地理標志農產品品牌的感知正宗性及其對消費行為的影響

Abstract

With the upgrading of industrial structure, the level of consumption in our country is constantly improving, and the demand for agricultural products is also constantly developing in the direction of safety, quality and environmental protection. The branding of agricultural products conforms to the needs of China's social consumption upgrading and agricultural development transformation. The Central Document No. 1 frequently pays attention to the development of agricultural product brands and related industries as well. At present, there are plentiful and disorderly brands in the agricultural product market, and the publicity is not in place. Supporting the geographical indication (GI) trademark can effectively promote the development of agricultural product brands. Although GI agricultural products are guaranteed by relatively perfect policies and regulations, geographical indications are "public intangible assets" of regions. In this case, how to transform geographical indications into agricultural products brands and give play to brand premium is a severe marketing challenge faced by these agricultural product producers. In addition, consumers are one of the most important subjects of agricultural products market, so "how consumers understand GI agricultural products brand" is also a crucial marketing perspective. Based on the consumer orientation, this paper explores what kind of information the agricultural production companies reveal in their brand communication can lead to a higher perceived orthodoxy, purchase intention and willingness to pay. This article constructed with GI production process type (emphasis on the production process of "return to nature" or "modern improvement"), the types of firm characteristics (whether it is a local company; and whether it is a company specialized in business) as the independent variables, the perception of orthodoxy as a mediating variable, and the type of GI brand attributes (natural resource dominance, or historical and cultural dominance) as a moderating variable.

The research framework of this paper takes the perceived orthodoxy of GI agricultural products as the core. As perceived orthodoxy has rarely been mentioned in the previous literature, especially in the English literature, where no concept has been found to fully overlap with it. This paper discusses its concept, operational definition and measurement methods. This paper holds that "orthodoxy" for GI agricultural products has two connotations: consistency and uniqueness. The former is reflected in the traceability, inheritance, and performance of each contact point with consumers, while the latter is reflected in the quality of agricultural products due to unique natural and cultural terroir. The paper also designs a scale using "real", "fake", "exaggerated", "consistent quality ", "consistent with heritage", "consistent with the existing schema in consumers' minds", and "credible" seven items to measure consumers' perceived orthodoxy. This scale is applied in both Study 1 and Study 2 and proved to be of high reliability.

The quality of GI agricultural products depends to a certain extent on their unique natural environmental factors. Nowadays, it is not uncommon to introduce technical means or mechanized operations in the agricultural production process. The production process is a crucial part to feature the brand differentiation of agricultural products. It is worth discussing whether to emphasize the "return to nature" or the "modern improvement" in the production process in the brand communication content. In the view of consumers, the fact that producers abandon advantaged natural endowments and turn to technological means of production is probably a reflection of the lack of craftsmanship and the pursuit of production efficiency. Accordingly, this paper argues that, compared to the emphasis on "modern improvement", consumers will form a higher perceived orthodoxy for GI agricultural brands that emphasize "return to nature in the production process" in brand communications. It is Hypothesis 1 of this paper.

In this paper, local companies refer to those agricultural product producers whose company is registered in the province or city where the protection area of geographical indications is defined and whose management team is local; while non-local companies refer to those agricultural product producers whose company is registered outside the protection area and whose management team controls the company remotely. Local companies tend to have a deep understanding of local terroir and can ensure that the products are more in line with the GI agricultural products schema in consumers' minds in terms of style and heritage, thus ensuring the consistency of the quality of agricultural products. Accordingly, this paper holds that consumers' perception of brand orthodoxy is higher when the "localized" characteristics of a company are emphasized than when the "non-localized" characteristics of a company are emphasized. It is Hypothesis 2 of this paper.

Companies that specialize in business tend to focus on a specific customer segment, a unique product line or a regional market as their main target. Among producers of GI agricultural products, specialized companies are able to better clear their audiences and selling points, and their claims of orthodoxy are more easily agreed upon with consumers. Business diversification, however, usually means that companies diversify their risks and seek different growth points, so their positions are not fully aligned with the interests of consumers in the GI agricultural products market segment. Therefore, this paper holds that consumers' perception of brand orthodoxy is higher when the "business specialization" characteristics of a company are emphasized than when the "business diversification" characteristics of a company are emphasized. It is Hypothesis 3 of this paper.

In terms of the relationship between perceived orthodoxy and consumer behavior, on the one hand, consumers will form higher perceptions of quality, ethics and consistency for products of orthodox brands, increasing their sense of brand identity and trust, and forming stronger consumer-brand connections. On the other hand, perceived orthodoxy is an important component of brand strength. Strong brands can enhance consumers' confidence in product quality judgment. Accordingly, this paper holds that consumers' perceived orthodoxy of GI agricultural products positively affects their purchase intention and willingness to pay; perceived orthodoxy plays a mediating role in the relationship between the type of GI brand communication content and the type of company characteristics on consumers' purchase intention and willingness to pay.

In addition, the superiority and uniqueness of GI agricultural products depend on the "terroir" of their origin, and the "terroir" includes both natural and man-made elements. Therefore, in brand communications, the GI agricultural brand can be selectively described as a "natural resource" or "historical and cultural" dominance. In this paper, the GI brand attribute type (natural resource dominance vs. historical and cultural dominance) is added as a moderating variable in the research framework.

This paper validates the above framework through an exploratory study and two empirical studies. The exploratory study is conducted in the form of one-on-one semi-structured interviews on why to purchase GI agricultural products, what needs to be met, and what factors to consider, which provides qualitative findings in the construction of the perceived orthodoxy scale and the online empirical studies. Study 1 used "Qingyuan Field Broiler" as the experimental material to verify Hypotheses 1 and 2. Study 2 used "Cixi Bayberry" as the experimental material to verify Hypotheses 1 and 3. These two studies jointly verified the mediating role of perceived orthodoxy in the effect of brand communication content type and company characteristics types on consumer behaviors.

In terms of theoretical contributions, this paper starts from the consumer-oriented brand communications of GI agricultural products, and takes the disclosure of company characteristics in the marketing content of agricultural product producers as an important independent variable, which makes up for the lack of company role concern in previous studies. This paper also gives the operational definition of perceived orthodoxy of GI agricultural brands, and proves the reliability of the perceived orthodoxy scale in two empirical studies. In terms of marketing insights, the findings of this paper can provide practical guidance for agricultural product producers to help them establish unique competitive advantages, so as to stand out in the agricultural market.

Date of Award	20 Apr 2023
Original language	Chinese (Traditional)
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Liyin Jin (External Supervisor) & Zhilin YANG (Supervisor)