Consumers' knowledge of selected claims associated with fresh lamb or mutton products

Abstract

In a South African context, a range of consumer studies have been conducted over the past few years to understand the influence of food labels on South African consumers' purchasing behaviour, the specific factors influencing consumers’ decision making pertaining to red meat products, and specifically consumers’ perceptions about the Karoo region and Karoo Lamb as well as consumers’ willingness to pay for this product of origin. Extending these studies, the current study broadens our understanding of consumers’ subjective and objective knowledge about production process claims, including grass-fed, free range, antibiotic free, hormone free; and the Karoo Lamb claim of geographic origin, associated with pre-packaged fresh lamb or mutton, of the relationship between the demographic characteristics and the specific knowledge dimensions, of the relationship between subjective and objective knowledge and the importance of specific evaluative criteria, and of the relationship between the knowledge dimensions and willingness to pay more for lamb or mutton with specific characteristics. The study is quantitative, exploratory and descriptive in nature. A cross-sectional survey design involving a self-administered, online questionnaire was used to collect data from urban consumers, aged 18 years or older, who were the main buyers of pre-packaged fresh lamb or mutton at large food retailers. Consulta Research, a respectable research company, recruited respondents by means of non-random convenience sampling in main urban areas across South Africa, namely Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. A total of 355 respondents took part in the study. The results of this study show that what respondents think they know, i.e. their perception of the nature and extent of their own knowledge, and what they actually know about selected lamb or mutton production processes are two different things, potentially influencing consumers’ search and choice behaviours differently. Knowledge about production process claims therefore manifests in two dimensions: subjective and objective knowledge. Higher levels of subjective knowledge are related to higher importance ratings for free-range lamb, hormone-free lamb, antibiotic-free lamb and Karoo lamb. The higher the subjective knowledge of claims, the higher the importance ratings, implying that the more confident respondents felt about their knowledge of the respective claims, the more important they regarded product label information about the claims. No significant relationships exist between the objective knowledge pertaining to free range, hormone free and antibiotic free and the importance ratings pertaining to free range, hormone free and antibiotic free. The ANOVAs show that consumers’ subjective knowledge of production processes varied by demographic characteristics. A higher level of subjective knowledge about the specific claims had a positive impact on consumers’ willingness to pay more for lamb/mutton, while objective knowledge was not related to willingness or intention to pay more. The results of the study have implications for the food industry (producers, marketers and retailers), policy makers, governmental agencies and independent consumer protection organisations.