Food Localism and Korean Wine Purchase Intentions Based on the Value-Based Model

Abstract

Recently, although Korean is recognized as one of the new world wine producing countries, Korean wine sales do not seem to obtain any relevant benefits even for the local market. In this study, particular attention was given to food localism and the Value-Based Model (VBM) for Korean wine. A comprehensive literature review identified a total of six essential wine selection attributes. VBM was applied to our conceptual framework to encompass both consumer perceptions about benefits, sacrifices and values in purchasing Korean wines. The relationships between wine selection attributes, perceived benefits, sacrifices and values, and Korean wine purchasing intentions were tested. More importantly, this study focused on identifying how food localism that Korean wine consumers have plays a role in the proposed model. As a result, ‘price’ and ‘label’ were found to positively increase perceived benefits in purchasing Korean wines. ‘sensory’ and ‘brand’ significantly decreased perceived benefits while those two attributes significantly increased perceived sacrifices. In addition, the ‘region’ was found to significantly decrease perceived sacrifices. This study confirmed the structural relationships within the VBM. Perceived benefits were positively associated with perceived values while perceived sacrifices were negatively related to perceived values in purchasing Korean wines. Further, perceived values were found to significantly and positively influence Korean wine consumers’ purchasing intentions. In addition, our findings indicated that when consumers with a high level of food localism perceive benefits in purchasing Korean wine, they are more likely to perceive a higher level of perceived values in purchasing Korean wine. In contrast, when consumers with a low level of food localism perceive sacrifices in purchasing Korean wine, they tend to have a low level of perceived values in purchasing Korean wines. Based on these findings, useful implications for the Korean wine industry and academics are provided.