Research On The Influence Of Seller’s Type On Cousumers’ Purchase Intention For Imperfect Agricultural Products:A Lay Theory Perspective

As the social and economic levels continue to develop,consumer demand continues to upgrade,and more and more consumers take food for granted.However,there are still millions of people around the world facing hunger and food insecurity.General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "food security is a fundamental issue concerning human survival,and reducing food loss is an important way to guarantee food security." In daily life,a large amount of agricultural products are discarded in the production and sales process because they do not meet people’s aesthetic needs,resulting in huge waste of resources.These imperfect agricultural products may have no difference in taste and nutrition from normal agricultural products,so how to reduce the waste of imperfect agricultural products is crucial for environmental protection and food conservation.In fact,whether it is online shopping or offline shopping,it inevitably involves interactions between consumers and sellers.Sellers play an indispensable role in consumers’purchasing decisions.Although sellers play a crucial role in agricultural product sales,existing literature has overlooked the influence of sellers in the transaction process of imperfect agricultural products.Therefore,this article aims to explore the influence mechanism of seller identity type on consumers’ purchase of imperfect agricultural products and to investigate how the claim of the cause of imperfect appearance will regulate the influence of seller identity type on consumers’ purchase of imperfect agricultural products.Through mathematical and statistical analysis of the collected experimental data,the results of one pilot study and three formal experiments show that consumers hold the lay belief that "producers sell more natural and healthier agricultural products,while professional sellers will do more screening before selling." Compared with professional sellers selling imperfect agricultural products,selling them by producers will lead to higher purchasing willingness among consumers.This influence is achieved through a dual mediating mechanism of perceived health and perceived effort.Specifically,the sale of imperfect agricultural products by producers can increase consumers’ perceived health level for imperfect agricultural products,while the sale of imperfect agricultural products by professional sellers will reduce consumers’ perceived effort towards professional sellers,ultimately leading to higher purchasing willingness among consumers for imperfect agricultural products sold by producers than those sold by professional sellers.In addition,our research found that the claim of the cause of imperfect appearance can effectively improve the sales performance of professional sellers.Specifically,when sellers provide a claim of the cause of imperfect appearance of agricultural products,the difference in the impact on consumers’ purchasing intention between imperfect agricultural products sold by professional sellers and those sold by producers will become insignificant.This suggests that the claim of the cause of imperfect appearance can enhance the effectiveness of professional sellers in selling imperfect agricultural products.This study not only explores the impact of the seller’s identity on consumers’ willingness to purchase imperfect agricultural products but also enriches the existing literature on improving consumers’ willingness to purchase imperfect agricultural products.Additionally,this research confirms that consumers hold different lay beliefs towards sellers of different identities,which enriches the existing research on lay theories.Furthermore,this article has certain enlightening and guiding value for marketing practice.On the one hand,when selling imperfect agricultural products with imperfect appearances,it is more appropriate for the producer to sell them rather than professional salespeople.Therefore,companies can entrust salespeople with producer identities to sell imperfect agricultural products.On the other hand,when professional salespeople sell imperfect agricultural products,the seller or company needs to inform consumers about the reasons for the imperfect appearance to improve the sales performance of professional salespeople.