IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i13p7600-d845098.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Consumers’ Brand Preferences for Infant Formula: A Grounded Theory Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Yaru Tian

    (Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100098, China)

  • Hua Peng

    (Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100098, China)

  • Xiaoxia Dong

    (Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100098, China)

  • Liwang Li

    (Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100098, China)

  • Wenqi Zhu

    (Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100098, China)

Abstract

In recent years, the market pattern of infant formula in China has changed dramatically. The market share of domestic infant formula has exceeded that of imports. The essence of the market share change of domestic and foreign brands is the change of consumers’ brand preferences. To explore which factors affected consumers’ brand preferences, our study conducted a qualitative research method based on the grounded theory, through in-depth interviews with 60 mothers in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, systematically identifying the factors which affect consumers’ brand preferences for infant formula, which allowed us to establish a theoretical model for them. We found that product characteristics and external environmental factors could directly affect the formation of consumers’ brand preferences, or indirectly through the two intermediary factors of buyers and users. In addition, in the consumption of infant formula, buyers and users were separated, and infants, as actual users, were an important factor that could not be ignored in brand preference.

Suggested Citation

  • Yaru Tian & Hua Peng & Xiaoxia Dong & Liwang Li & Wenqi Zhu, 2022. "Consumers’ Brand Preferences for Infant Formula: A Grounded Theory Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-16, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:13:p:7600-:d:845098
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/13/7600/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/13/7600/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chrysanthos Dellarocas, 2006. "Strategic Manipulation of Internet Opinion Forums: Implications for Consumers and Firms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(10), pages 1577-1593, October.
    2. Mostafa Fawzy Zayed & Hazem Rasheed Gaber & Nermine El Essawi, 2022. "Examining the Factors That Affect Consumers’ Purchase Intention of Organic Food Products in a Developing Country," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-16, May.
    3. de Vries, Lisette & Gensler, Sonja & Leeflang, Peter S.H., 2012. "Popularity of Brand Posts on Brand Fan Pages: An Investigation of the Effects of Social Media Marketing," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 83-91.
    4. Bettman, James R & Luce, Mary Frances & Payne, John W, 1998. "Constructive Consumer Choice Processes," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 25(3), pages 187-217, December.
    5. M.J.F. Fazeela Ahsan & P.A.P. Samantha Kumara & Siriyama Kanthi Herath, 2007. "The country image effects on the milk powder market of southern region in Sri Lanka," International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 4(1), pages 82-95.
    6. Ying Wang & Zengrui Xiao, 2022. "The Dual Effects of Consumer Satisfaction on Brand Switching Intention of Sharing Apparel," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-15, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yabing Jiang & Hong Guo, 2015. "Design of Consumer Review Systems and Product Pricing," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 714-730, December.
    2. Kick, Markus, 2015. "Social Media Research: A Narrative Review," EconStor Preprints 182506, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    3. Aydin Gokgoz, Zeynep & Ataman, M. Berk & van Bruggen, Gerrit H., 2021. "There’s an app for that! understanding the drivers of mobile application downloads," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 423-437.
    4. Xiumin Chu & Yezheng Liu & Xiayu Chen & Zhengping Ding & Shouzheng Tao, 2022. "What motivates consumer to engage in microblogs? The roles of brand post characteristics and brand prestige," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 451-483, June.
    5. Hyowon Kim & Dong Soo Kim & Greg M. Allenby, 2020. "Benefit Formation and Enhancement," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 419-468, December.
    6. Martinovici, A., 2019. "Revealing attention - how eye movements predict brand choice and moment of choice," Other publications TiSEM 7dca38a5-9f78-4aee-bd81-c, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. James Agarwal & Wayne DeSarbo & Naresh K. Malhotra & Vithala Rao, 2015. "An Interdisciplinary Review of Research in Conjoint Analysis: Recent Developments and Directions for Future Research," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 2(1), pages 19-40, March.
    8. Roman Inderst & Marco Ottaviani, 2013. "Sales Talk, Cancellation Terms and the Role of Consumer Protection," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(3), pages 1002-1026.
    9. Greenacre, Luke & Martin, James & Patrick, Sarah & Jaeger, Victoria, 2016. "Boundaries of the centrality effect during product choice," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 32-38.
    10. Somerville, Jason & McGowan, Féidhlim, 2016. "Can chocolate cure blindness? Investigating the effect of preference strength and incentives on the incidence of Choice Blindness," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1-11.
    11. Charles Cunningham & Ken Deal & Yvonne Chen, 2010. "Adaptive Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis," The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Springer;International Academy of Health Preference Research, vol. 3(4), pages 257-273, December.
    12. Suomi, Kati & Luonila, Mervi & Tähtinen, Jaana, 2020. "Ironic festival brand co-creation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 211-220.
    13. Ahmed Moustapha Mfokeu & Elie Virgile Chrysostome & Jean-Pierre Gueyie & Olivier Ebenezer Mun Ngapna, 2023. "Consumer Motivation behind the Use of Ecological Charcoal in Cameroon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-22, January.
    14. SZIKSZAI-NÉMETH Ketrin, 2020. "Personal Branding In Team Sports Marketing," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 416-424, July.
    15. Heyes, Anthony & Kapur, Sandeep, 2012. "Angry customers, e-word-of-mouth and incentives for quality provision," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 84(3), pages 813-828.
    16. Yousef Ahmad El Dameh & Hamad AL Ghadeer, 2021. "The Impact of Traditional Direct Marketing on Creating Brand Awareness: Case Study on IKEA in Jordan," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 14(3), pages 130-130, July.
    17. Blut, Markus & Chowdhry, Nivriti & Mittal, Vikas & Brock, Christian, 2015. "E-Service Quality: A Meta-Analytic Review," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(4), pages 679-700.
    18. Wu, Xingli & Liao, Huchang, 2021. "Modeling personalized cognition of customers in online shopping," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    19. Popkowski Leszczyc, Peter T.L. & Qiu, Chun & He, Yongfu, 2009. "Empirical Testing of the Reference-Price Effect of Buy-Now Prices in Internet Auctions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 211-221.
    20. repec:cup:judgdm:v:11:y:2016:i:1:p:40-47 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Halloran, Timothy J. & Lutz, Richard J., 2021. "Let's Give Them Something to Talk About: Which Social Media Engagements Predict Purchase Frequency?," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 83-95.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:13:p:7600-:d:845098. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.