Determinants of Actual Purchase Behavior in Farmers’ Markets

Bi-Kun Tsai,Pimpinan Somsong,Ku-Yuan Lee,Chi-Ming Hsieh

doi:10.3390/su11195480

Abstract

Farmers’ markets in Taiwan advocate for the sustainable consumption of locally produced food to support sustainability and social justice goals. Institutional trust and interpersonal trust are critical determinative factors in sustaining farmers’ farm-to-consumer venues for the long-run. The purpose of this research was to investigate determinants of customers’ actual purchase behaviors, and the relationships between trust, purchase intention, and actual purchase behavior in the context of farmers’ markets. A questionnaire approach with closed-ended survey questions was conducted with customers in farmers’ markets in different parts of Taiwan. The results revealed that both institutional and interpersonal trust could serve as driving forces influencing a consumer’s purchase intentions, which in turn reinforces their actual purchase behavior. Specifically, the interpersonal trust between consumers and producers includes positive interactions and sufficient communication, enabling producers to share the value and concepts underlying their production processes with the consumers, enhancing customers’ purchase intentions and intensity. Institutional trust generated from a producer’s endeavor to improve the quality of their own products by meeting market standards would impress consumers and build loyalty. It is recommended that farmers’ market farmers or managers continually examine both the institutional and interpersonal needs of customers (e.g., food safety, face-to-face interactions between farmers and consumers) to earn customers’ trust, and to accommodate their expectations by providing sufficient products and services.

Highlights

The advantages of simplifying the actors in the food supply chain and requiring shorter food miles, compared with a global food system, have led to local food systems being regarded as a more sustainable way to purchase food
The primary purpose of the research was to examine the relationship between institutional trust, interpersonal trust, consumers’ purchase intentions, and actual purchase behavior from the consumers’ perspective in the context of Sustainability 2019, 11, 5480 farmers’ markets
Two control variables were treated as moderators to see if there was any change in the direction or magnitude of the relationship between exogenous variable, and the endogenous variable, respectively

Summary

Introduction

The advantages of simplifying the actors in the food supply chain and requiring shorter food miles, compared with a global food system, have led to local food systems being regarded as a more sustainable way to purchase food. Since farmers’ markets have the above-mentioned features, i.e., social and environmental sustainability, consumers are willing to pay a premium price, which increases the farmers’ income, develops the local economy, and contributes to economic sustainability [3]; in other words, enhancing social, economic, and environmental sustainability are the greatest concerns of farmers’ market consumers. These concerns influence farmers’ markets consumers’ purchase intentions. Exploring the determinants of actual purchase behavior in farmers’ markets allowed us to obtain the answers for the above research question

Objectives

Methods

Results