The Effect Of Income Quality On Rural Households’ Brand Meat Consumption Behavior

Over the past four decades implementing reform and opening up policy,residents in rural China have experienced a rapid transformation in food and nutrition structure.The meat consumption per capita gap between urban and rural decreased sharply from 12.5 kg in 2010 to only 5.5 kg in 2018,the extent of reduction reached 56%.However,food safety incidents like “African swine fever” and “avian flu” occurred frequently in recent years,and unbalanced “food safety situation” between urban and rural area has become increasingly prominent.As a signal transmission tool,the food brand can make up for the food safety information asymmetry to a large extent and achieve win-win results between consumers and producers.Therefore,the brand strategy of agricultural products is of great significance to the upgrading of rural households’ meat consumption.In reality,the income on the one hand is still the bottleneck restricting farmers from consuming brand fresh meat.Although farmers’ income seems to rise constantly,but the quality of which is still quite low.Even gaining the same amount of income,the farmers with different income quality might show different consumption tendency.For example,income uncertainty can restrict ones’ purchasing power to a certain extent,which as a result limits farmers’ meat consumption and premium price for brand fresh meat.On the other hand,the food safety awareness varies greatly among different individuals,and this type of psychological factors might interact with income,and then affect farmers’ brand fresh meat consumption.In addition,Maslow Theory and Customer Value Theory also indicate that when lower physiological needs are met,people will pursue safety value.Therefore,the income quality reflecting the social and economic characteristics may upgrade farmers’ requirements for food safety,and further strengthen their safety value perception,which as a result improve farmers’ premium price for brand fresh meat.Based on the Income-Consumption Theory,Maslow Theory as well as Customer Value Theory,this paper constructs the theoretical framework of farmers’ brand fresh meat consumption by incorporating income quality and consumer psychology factors.Using 687 survey data on farmers’ meat consumption in Shaanxi province collected in April 2018,the influence of income quality on farmers’ brand meat consumption and premium price for brand fresh meat is empirically tested by exploiting couples of methodologies including literature analysis,field survey and quantitative analysis.Firstly,using the micro-survey data,factor analysis method and descriptive statistical method are used to measure farmers’ brand fresh meat consumption behavior,income quality,food safety awareness as well as safety value perception while the characteristics are also analyzed.Secondly,using the ordered Logistic regression model,the main effects of income quality on farmers’ brand fresh meat consumption are tested;hierarchical regression model is used to confirmed the interacting effect between four dimensions of income quality,and the moderating effect of food safety awareness on the path of "income quality-brand fresh meat consumption" is also tested;with subgroup regression model,we test the moderating effect of self-sufficient on main paths of "income quality-food safety awareness-brand fresh meat consumption".Thirdly,the mediating model is adopted to empirically test the mechanism between income quality,safety value perception and farmers’ premium price for brand fresh meat.Finally,based on the theoretical and empirical conclusions,it is proposed that the public policy-maker should optimize farmers’ income quality in all dimensions,while their food safety awareness and safety value perception are also supposed to be strengthened.In addition,food enterprises should adopt differentiated brand promotion measures and flexible brand pricing strategies in rural meat markets.The research conclusions are as follows:(1)Firstly,most of farmers give priority to food quality and safety when buying fresh meat,but more than 50% of the respondents have never bought brand meat;the farmers’ average premium price for brand pork and chicken is 21.32% and 29.66% respectively,which are much higher than that of brand beef(12.97%)and brand lamb(11.89%).Secondly,the income quality is not high,to be specific,the income adequacy is at the middle and lower level;farmers’ evaluation on previous income growth is positive,but they have a poor expectation on income growth in future;although farmers can making a living in several ways,they still depend mainly on a single channel when it comes to quantity structure;farmers gain income mainly through manual labor with no professional skill and knowledge.Thirdly,farmers’ food safety awareness is generally strong;for adopting safety consumption strategies,their perceived value of function,emotion and social are quite high and they can accept the cost of time,energy and money.(2)Income quality has a significant positive effect on farmers’ brand fresh meat consumption.Specifically,income adequacy,income growth and income knowledge affect farmers’ brand fresh meat consumption positively.For individuals with low income adequacy,diversifying their income structure can promote their purchasing of brand fresh meat.Besides,there is a positive interacting effect between income adequacy and income growth.(3)Food safety awareness has a significant moderating effect on some of the paths in "income quality--brand fresh meat consumption".Specifically,consumer responsibility has a significant negative moderating effect in "income growth--brand fresh meat consumption".Perceived food safety plays a significant positive moderating role in "income adequacy--brand fresh meat consumption".(4)The farmers’ self-sufficiency has a significant moderating effect on some of the paths in "income quality--food safety awareness--brand fresh meat consumption".For farmers relying on meat market,the improvement of income adequacy,income growth,income knowledge and consumer responsibility can significantly promote their purchasing of brand fresh meat.For self-sufficient farmers,more diversified income structure can significantly promote their purchasing of branded fresh meat.(5)Safety value perception plays a significant mediating role in the positive impact of income quality on farmers’ premium price for brand fresh meat.The further results show that the indirect effects of safety value perception varies among different types of meat.Specifically,the indirect effect of safety value perception in brand pork and chicken consumption accounts for 17.57% and 15.69% respectively,which are much higher than that in brand beef consumption(5.49%)and brand mutton consumption(7.30%).