Interpreting consumer attitude towards milk alternatives: A purchase intention model for marketing success

Authors

Anjolize Wassenaar, Department of Life and Consumer Sciences, University of South Africa, South AfricaFollow
Elizabeth Kempen, Department of Life and Consumer Sciences, Florida University of South Africa, South AfricaFollow

ORCID

Anjolize Wassenaar: 0009-0005-2939-0756

Elizabeth Kempen: 0000-0002-4447-7797

Keywords

Consumer beliefs, evaluation of product, social norm, behavioural control, integrated attitude-intention model

Abstract

Within an emerging market context, the purchase of dairy free milk alternatives is not well understood. The purpose of the article is to present a model within which purchase intentions of South African emerging market consumers can be interpreted, providing marketers with information on which product positioning upon market entry and continuous marketing strategies can be developed for the growing niche ultra-heat treated (UHT) milk alternative product category. Using a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive approach, data was gathered in-person and online from 35 participants through mini-focus groups and semi-structured interviews. Through inductive-deductive thematic data analysis, findings describe consumer purchase intention towards UHT milk alternatives. Productrelated factors comprising consumer product beliefs and product evaluation, as well as behaviourrelated factors such as expected outcome, social norm and control, were found to impact consumer purchase intention, leading to the development of the integrated attitude-intention model. The study has contributed to a better understanding of the milk alternative category within an emerging market that will assist marketers in improving the marketing strategies for this category where little was known about the milk alternative consumer.

Acknowledgments

FUNDING The research was partially funded by the University of South Africa’s Masters and Doctoral bursary programme. DECLARATION OF CONFLICTING INTERESTS The authors have no conflict of interest to declare. DECLARATION OF USE OF AI TOOLS The authors did not use AI tools in the preparation of this article.

Recommended Citation

Wassenaar, A., & Kempen, E. (2024). Interpreting consumer attitude towards milk alternatives: A purchase intention model for marketing success. Journal of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets, 2024(1), 35-57. https://doi.org/10.7172/2449-6634.jmcbem.2024.1.3

First Page

35

Last Page

57

Page Count

23

Received Date

4.09.2023

Revised Date

2.05.2024

Accepted Date

10.06.2024

Online Available Date

01.07.2024

DOI

10.7172/2449-6634.jmcbem.2024.1.3

JEL Code

D10; D91; M31

Publisher

University of Warsaw