Consumers' Attitudes Towards Functional Food in Turkey

Bc. Ismail Burak Karademir

Diplomová práce

Abstract:

In recent years, functional foods have become popular within wellness and health circles. Despite the numerous health benefits of functional foods in Turkey and across the globe, the total market share in the consumption of functional foods is still much lower when comparing the incumbent drink and foods that are more prevalent in the market. Therefore, there is an urgent need to conduct more research studies and evaluations on the significance of functional foods and why more customers should include these nutritional food products into their daily diet. The main objectives of the thesis were to evaluate and analyze with logistic regression method consumers’ behaviour towards functional foods and to examine customers’ awareness of functional food in Turkey. A questionnaire survey was used for data collection in Istanbul, Turkey. A sample of 182 respondents participated in the study. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Results revealed that 51.1% of respondents do not know the term ’functional food’. Nevertheless, 80% of Turkish consumers purchase at least one of the FF products once per year. The most popular FF categories were functional drinks, functional cereals, and probiotics. Participants were consuming functional food products due to their health-enhancing effects, such as physical and sports performance, protecting against cancer, and regulating stress and sleep. 73.9% of women respondents agreed that FF consumption could regulate on stress and sleep, while 64.9% of men respondents agreed on protector against cancer effect of FF consumption. Statistical significance appeared in the regulation of stress and sleep reasons for the FF consumption in gender.

Keywords

consumer behaviour, functional food, turkey

Jazyk práce: angličtina

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 22. 4. 2022

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Vedoucí: Ing. Petra Chaloupková, Ph.D. dr. h. c.
• Oponent: Pavel Nový, Ph.D.

Česká zemědělská univerzita v Praze

Fakulta tropického zemědělství

Magisterský studijní program / obor:
Tropické zemědělství / International Development and Agricultural Economics