University students' eating behavior and consumer attitude in social commerce service

Abstract

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to investigate eating behavior of university students through social commerce and to analyze factors affecting university students' attitude regarding social commerce. Methods: Questionnaires were distributed to 445 university students in Changwon, Korea from March 28 to April 28, 2013. A total of 339 questionnaires were used for the final analysis, which excluded improperly-completed questionnaires. Results: The major factor considered for eating behavior through social commerce was price (37.2%). Purchasing experiences of foodservice products according to types of foodservice were 64.9% for coffee shop, 59.3% for fast food restaurant, 53.4% for family restaurant, 46.0% for specialty restaurant, 35.7% for pizza restaurant, 35.4% for buffet, and 31.9% for bakery. Factors affecting satisfaction with social commerce for purchasing foodservice products were ‘service quality of foodservice company’, ‘communication of social commerce’, and ‘discount rate of social commerce’. Factors affecting repurchasing intention of foodservice products through social commerce were ‘service quality of foodservice company’, ‘site design of social commerce’, and ‘discount rate of social commerce’. Conclusion: In order to increase satisfaction with social commerce, ‘service quality of foodservice company’, ‘communication of social commerce’, and ‘discount rate of social commerce’ should be increased. And, to increase repurchasing intention of social commerce, ‘service quality of foodservice company’, ‘site design of social commerce’, and ‘discount rate of social commerce’ should be increased. In addition, two factors ‘service quality of foodservice’ and ‘discount rate of social commerce’ were found to have an effect on satisfaction and repurchasing intention of social commerce. For development of social commerce and foodservice industry, cooperative relationship between social commerce and foodservice industry is needed, and a reasonable price strategy should be established. The university students considered price as a major factor of eating behaviors and did not consider menu and taste as a major factor. From a longer perspective, such an eating behavior would have an effect on university students' dietary life and it would cause nutrition and health problems for university students. Thus, it implied that further studies from the perspectives of nutrition and health regarding eating behavior through social commerce service should be conducted.