Non-Timber Forest Products Consumption Behaviors According to Dietary Lifestyle

Abstract

This study examined differences in consumers’ images of short-term income forest products, preference, willingness to pay prices and purchase behavior according to dietary lifestyle as well as investigated what factors influence the degree of satisfaction when purchasing short-term income forest products and willingness to repurchase. According to dietary lifestyle, the results classified consumers as ‘frugal housewife type,’ ‘convenience-seeking type,’ and ‘food high-involvement type.’ A ‘food high-involvement group’ is defined as a group that wants high quality products regardless of price. In the ‘frugal housewife type,’ country of origin and hygiene/safety (considered when purchasing food) had positive influences on the degree of satisfaction. In the ‘convenience-seeking type,’ country of origin (considered when purchasing food) had a positive influence on the degree of satisfaction while country of origin (checked when purchasing food) had a negative influence on degree of satisfaction. Consumers had a lack of perception for short-term income forest products; subsequently, short-term income forest products had a weakness of low access to consumers. Therefore, farms for short-term income forest products need to divide products into ‘high-priced’ luxury products and ‘low-priced’ frugal products according to dietary lifestyle characteristics, improve packaging status to enable consumers to check quality certificates, and clearly indicate country of origin as well as improve distribution processes and increase consumer access to products.