Analysis of research hypothesis 3

In compliance with the literature review when wine is purchased for a home consumption buyers tend to rely greatly on the product's price where the lower price is more favored. However, when wine is bought to offer as a gift or consumed during a special occasion, people look for more details of the beverage, such as packaging. Thus, H3 was formed suggesting that consumers' reliance on country of origin will be stronger during purchasing wine for gift and special occasions.

Table 11

Wine purchase criteria for different occasion

Mean

Home consumption

Special

occasion T Df Sig.

I choose the cheapest wine regardless

of its origin 3.5707 2.9366 5.080 204 .000

I choose wine by its country of origin 3.2146 4.1073 -8.766 204 .000 I choose wine in a fancy bottle 2.3902 4.0098 -16.116 204 .000 I choose wine by its sweetness 3.8146 3.5707 3.494 204 .001

I choose wine by its color 3.4049 3.3220 1.087 204 .279

According to the results of the independent sample t-test analysis shown in Table 11, the level of reliance on country of origin in both presented in the study consumption occasions differs significantly, t (204)= -8,77, p<.01. The results imply that consumers depend on country of origin signal more when purchasing wine for a gift and for formal dinner (M= 4.11, SD=.93) than when they purchase wine for home consumption (M=3.21, SD=1.10). Thus, hypothesis 3 is supported. In addition, the results of the independent sample t-test analysis explain that when it comes to sweetness of wine there is also a significant difference in the scores for home consumption (M=3.81, SD=1.08) and special occasion (M=3.57, SD=0.96) conditions; t (204)=3.49, p< 01. Thus, sweetness of wine is a more crucial quality signal for Taiwanese Millennials when the alcoholic beverage is bought to be consumed at home. Furthermore, the research backs previous finding saying that consumers prefer cheaper products when purchased for home consumption (M=3.57, SD=1.20) compared to purchase as a gift and a special occasion (M=2.93, SD=1.26); t (204)=5.08, p<.01. Also, the wine packaging is a more crucial factor when wine is to be consumed on a special occasion or bought as a gift (M=3.57, SD=1.20) in contrast to home consumption (M=2.94, SD=1.26); t (204)= -16.12, p<.01.

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSIONS

The final discussion chapter will be devoted to summarizing the obtained research results and debate implications of the outcomes. Furthermore, I exhibit the limitations of the study and propose future research that will again broaden the knowledge about country of origin.

5.1. Summary of research results Table 12

Summary of research hypothesis and outcomes of the analysis

Research hypothesis Outcome

H1: Level of Millennials’ product knowledge influences reliance on country of origin cue when evaluating quality of wine in such a way that those who have greater product knowledge will have less reliance on country of origin.

Supported p<.05 H2: Level of consumer ethnocentrism influences Millennials’ reliance

on country of origin cue when evaluating quality of wine in such a way that those who exhibit higher level of ethnocentrism will have greater reliance on country of origin.

Not supported p>.05

H3: Consumption occasion influences the level of Millennials reliance on country of origin cue when evaluating wine in such a way that those who buy wine as a gift will have greater reliance on country of origin.

Supported p<.001

H4: Socio- demographics influence Taiwanese Millennial consumers’

reliance on wine purchase criteria, such as country of origin, price, packaging, wine sweetness and wine color.

Partially Supported

p<.05

When it comes to wine consumption frequencies among Millennials it could be concluded that vast majority belongs to low frequency consumption with 73.1% drinking wine once a week or less. The remaining 26.9 % drink wine twice a week or more often.

When comparing the results with wine consumption frequency in the United Stated, the

numbers are on a par. According to the WMC Economic Outlook Survey done on over a thousand of American members of generation Y in 2016 30% of Millennials belong to high frequency wine consumption group (O’Donnel & Nielsen, 2016). Also, as mentioned previously, according to the 2014 Health Promotion Administration Ministry of Health and Welfare report done on Taiwanese consumers with each year wine is consumed by more and more Millennials (Health Promotion Administration Ministry of Health and Welfare Report, 2005; Health Promotion Administration Ministry of Health and Welfare Report, 2014).Thus, we can assume that in the future the frequency of consumption will be also rising. However, as for now the results of the study explain that wine consumption frequency does not influence reliance on country of origin, or any other purchase criteria.

The main aim of this research was to examine whether Taiwanese Millennials take country of origin into consideration when buying wine and if the reliance on country of origin is influenced by product knowledge, consumer ethnocentrism and consumption occasion.

The results from data analysis indicate that, indeed, members of generation Y coming from Taiwan take country of origin into account when making a purchase. As many as 72%

of respondents expressed the importance of the cue when choosing wine. Furthermore repeated measures ANOVA results depict that consumers depend on country of origin as much as on price or wine color. That is why I conclude that origin of wine has a strong position among other quality signals and that wine producers can still use it in their marketing campaigns. Thus, previous finding, stressing the consumers’ reliance on country of origin, are supported (Bredahl, 2004, Lopez- Lamelas, 2011, Zdravkovic, 2013).

Figure 2 Importance of purchase criteria among Taiwanese Millennials

Although Taiwanese Millennials depend on country of origin, there are certain moderators of the level of the reliance. Supporting hypothesis 1 of the research it was found that depending on how knowledgeable a consumer is the reliance on country of origin varies.

So, Taiwanese Millennials who have acquired greater knowledge about wine are less likely to look at country of origin when choosing wine, but also are less likely to take price, and packaging into account. On the other hand, they exhibit higher reliance on wine sweetness and color. This is due to the fact that consumers with greater knowledge present different attitudes towards extrinsic and intrinsic cues of a product where those who are knowledgeable about wine will be able to assess the alcoholic beverage based on its intrinsic cues such as wine sweetness or color. However, consumers who know little about wine would not be able choose wine based on those criteria as they would not know the true meaning behind them. In the end, they would rely on country of origin, price, and packaging, which are substitute predictors of quality. In addition, as many as 64% of respondents do not feel knowledgeable about wine and that is why Taiwanese Millennials highly depend on country of origin in their purchasing evaluation.

wine sweetness

wine color, price, country of origin

packaging

Moreover, the results show that women, as compared to men, are more inclined to look at wine sweetness and color. This fact might be due to the previous findings stressing that women are better at detecting differences in tastes and have more acute sense of taste ,compared to men, as a result of having more taste buds on the tongue (Bartoshuk, Duffy

& Miller, 1994; Bartoshuk et al., 1996).

Furthermore, it was found that younger Millennials pay more attention to wine packaging than older member of generation Y. The reason behind it might be that the younger consumers are the more unique experience they seek (Betti & Dad, 2016). Thus, when purchasing wine younger group of Millennials will chose wine base on its unique packaging.

The research aim was also to examine whether consumption occasion is a predictor of reliance on country of origin. As there are no previous research done on the topic, it needs to be underlined that this study greatly contributed to the theory of country of origin and consumption occasion. As the hypothesis 3 of the research was supported, the research proved that Taiwanese Millennials indeed depend on different criteria when purchasing wine as a gift and a special occasion and when buying it for home consumption. The results show that generation Y consumers in Taiwan attach importance to country of origin and packaging when it comes to special occasion and purchase as a gift. They are also willing to spend more money on the wine. The reason behind it might be the nature of human behavior. Usually, when people purchase a product to offer as a gift they tend to choose it more carefully looking at more details, compared to buying the product for home consumption. Also the reason why consumers spend more money for a gift might be due to the Dunn and Aknin’s (2009) finding proving that spending money on others elicit greater happiness, than spending money on oneself.

When it comes to consumer ethnocentrism a significant predictor of reliance on country of origin was not found. This situation could be explained by stressing that Taiwanese Millennials are sensible consumers who know that the true quality of wine is the most important purchase criteria. And although some consumers exhibit higher level of ethnocentrism, they are not willing to purchase local Taiwanese grape wine, as it is of low quality. In a situation where quality of Taiwanese wine and foreign wine would be about the same, then consumer ethnocentrism might be an influential moderator of reliance on country of origin. However, currently there are no existing theories that could support the explanation of the outcome of hypothesis 3. In order to say for sure that the reason why consumer

ethnocentrism was not found influential when it comes to reliance on country of origin because of the difference in quality of wine, further studies must be undertaken.

Summing up, despite the rapid globalization, Taiwanese consumers indeed take country of origin into account when purchasing wine. Thus, this purchasing criteria can still be operated in wine marketing campaigns. However, marketers and wine experts should keep in mind that there are factors which moderate the level of reliance on country of origin.

Product knowledge and consumption occasion turned out to be significant predictors, indicating that less knowledgeable consumers and those who purchase wine to offer as a gift and on special occasion are more likely to check where the wine comes from.

5.2. Limitations and future research

The results of this research provide interesting results for marketing, communication, and wine experts. Without a doubt they stress the importance of country of origin among Taiwanese Millennial wine consumers. Also, the study proves that variety of factors, such as product knowledge and consumption occasion, but also age and gender are crucial predictors of the level of reliance on different wine purchase criteria. However, the study poses certain limitations and that is why it should be considered with caution.

Firstly, the non-probability sample of respondents may be somehow a limitation of the current study. Although the respondents exhibited all the necessary characteristics qualified members of generation Y and they are also actual or potential wine drinkers, a question of representativeness of the target group may be arisen. Some of the characteristics of the sample were found to be homogeneous and thus they could not have been used in the analysis or deflated the reliability of the results. For example, education level (SD:.23) was not distributed evenly, and thus the variable could not be operated in the regression analysis. Also, homogenous level of respondents ethnocentrism (SD:.35) may have led to the rejection of hypothesis two--ethnocentrism failed to show impact on reliance on country of origin.

Furthermore, the small number of survey responses may be questioned as to its validity and representativeness. A larger sample size is needed for future study to assure the validity and reliability of the study.

Keeping in mind presented limitations I suggest to test the potential moderating factor of country of origin, namely consumer ethnocentrism, in a situation where local wine and foreign wine exhibit the same level of quality. Under these circumstances the result of the

study might be different from the outcomes of this research, showing that consumer ethnocentrism indeed influences the reliance on country of origin.

Furthermore, in order to increase the validity of the results, I suggest to conduct an experiment study in the future with an included physical wine bottle. Measuring the level of reliance on country of origin in actual purchase situation may ensure that indeed country of origin is a crucial purchase criteria.

Also, additional studies on Millennials’ consumer behavior should be undertaken. This study found that although Millennials belong to one demographic cohort that forever shares common perspective and characteristics, still differences between younger and older members of generation Y can be found. Thus, testing their consumer preferences by dividing them into two age groups might be much needed research in the future.

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