A Comparative Study of High-Quality Broiler Purchase Behavior between Chinese and Sierra Leonean Consumers: The Moderating Role of Uncertainty Avoidance

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the effects of perceived environmental responsibility (PER), environmental knowledge (EK), new ecological paradigm (NEP), and environmental collective efficacy (ECE) on the high-quality broiler purchase intention of China and Sierra Leone. Despite prior studies that have investigated the relationship between Hofstede’s cultural dimensions’ impacts on high-quality food (e.g., organic and green) purchase behavior, research on the moderating effect of uncertainty avoidance (UA) on the formulation of high-quality food purchase intention is rarely found. Based on this, a study was conducted via administrating an online structured questionnaire to 588 Chinese consumers and 410 Sierra Leoneans. The validity and reliability of the new conceptual model were examined through a confirmatory factor analysis, while structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed for the data analysis, and to test the hypothesized relationships among the variables. The results revealed that PER, EK, NEP, and ECE directly influence consumers’ purchase intention (PI) and actual purchase behavior (APB) for high-quality broilers in China and Sierra Leone. However, the results from Chinese consumers show that UA has a direct impact on high-quality purchase intention and actual purchase behavior, but was not found to have a moderate impact between the antecedents and purchase intention as well as actual purchase behavior, while UA positively moderates the relationship between PER, EK, ECE, and GPI, as well as between PI and APB in Sierra Leone markets. Therefore, the study concluded that enterprises in African markets, particularly Sierra Leone, can segment their customers and target them with persuasive positioning approaches by taking the cultural element (uncertainty avoidance) into account. This study enhances the methodology for learning about the preferences and behavioral patterns of cross-cultural consumers.