Consumers’ awareness and perceptions regarding functional dairy products in Iran: A qualitative research
Abstract
Purpose
Functional dairy products market has been growing steadily in Iran. Awareness and perception related to these products has an important role in consumers’ acceptance and subsequently long-term marketplace success of these products. The purpose of this paper is to fill the knowledge gap in this regard, study conducted in Iran.
Design/methodology/approach
The theory of social marketing served as the framework of the study. Qualitative data were collected via eight semi-structured focus group discussions (FGDs), between May and September 2014. Participants were 65 women (44 housewives and 21 employed women), aged 23-68 years, selected by purposive sampling, with a maximum diversity. All FGDs were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Qualitative content analysis of the data was conducted by MAXQDA®.
Findings
Almost all participants were unfamiliar with the term “functional dairy products,” although, some of them had consumed these products. Apart from perceiving the functional dairy products as unnecessary by some participants, some women did not trust in health claims of these products for various reasons such as distrust in food manufacturers, exposure to contradictory information, and fear of unforeseen and dangerous side effects due to taking them. The participants agreed on the need for more information from a trusted and credible source such as health professionals or authorities through different communication channels like television, training classes, shopping center, and so on.
Originality/value
This study provides a unique insight into consumers’ awareness and perceptions concerning functional dairy products in Iran. To the best of the knowledge, this study is the first study in this regard in Iran. Given the novelty of these products in the market, the findings could provide information for the dairy industry to expand its market and improve its profitability and reliability, as well as public health sector to design and implement intervention programs to promote functional dairy products consumption in the population.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study was funded by the National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute of Iran. Furthermore, this paper was a part of PhD dissertation at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran. The authors would like to thank all participants who made this study possible.
Citation
Bazhan, M., Keshavarz-Mohammadi, N., Hosseini, H. and Kalantari, N. (2017), "Consumers’ awareness and perceptions regarding functional dairy products in Iran: A qualitative research", British Food Journal, Vol. 119 No. 2, pp. 253-266. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-06-2016-0270
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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