How do the authors justify a qualitative approach to study

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Reference no: EM133641626

Assignment

Brief Summary:

Mkhize and Ellis (2020) explored barriers that exist in the regular consumption of organic produce within the context of a developing country, South Africa. This qualitative research focused on learning from participants who were aware of organic products and the potential benefits and yet were not regular consumers of such products.

Methods:

The authors used exploratory, qualitative methods including snowball sampling and semi-structured, in-depth interviews for data collection with a sample size of 25 participants. Snowball sampling was chosen due to the difficulty of finding participants "who knew about the benefits of organic purchases but were not regular consumers of organic products" (p. 3).

Key Findings:

Notably, Mkhize and Ellis found that despite having awareness of the benefits of organic products, participants did not regularly purchase such products. The main barriers to the participants purchasing organic products were related to the cost, availability, and unclear labeling of organic products. Additionally, the authors found evidence of the attitude-behavior gap as well as a perceived behavioral control, in that participants mentioned that even if they desired to intentionally shop for organic products, these products may not be available where they shop.

My Assessment of the Study Design:

I commend the authors for not only seeking to understand why consumption levels of organic products are low despite the benefits, but for also providing creative communications recommendations for marketers, farmers, and retailers. The focus on achieving desired behavioral outcomes reminded me of our course learnings of the 3xO framework - outputs, outtakes, & outcomes (question #2 below attempts to explore this further).

I also appreciated the authors' methods and interpretation of findings within the context of South Africa. The study mentions South Africa being in the early adoption phase of organic produce consumption. I would be curious to learn more about why the authors did not explore those who do buy organic products in South Africa. As the authors also provide communications recommendations, learning from those who do purchase and why they choose to purchase organic products could have helpful insights.

A few statements led me to question the reliability of some of the findings. For example, the authors mention "some consumers are not aware of organic benefits and believe organic produce is no better than conventional products" (p. 4). This felt a bit generalized to me, as only 2 (8%) of the participants mentioned not purchasing organic for this reason. Additionally, the authors were seeking participants who did not purchase organic produce regularly, but of the 25 participants, 10 (34%) reported purchasing organic fruits and vegetables, and 7 (24%) were unsure if they purchase organic or not due to unclear labeling. This made me question whether the sample truly did not engage in behaviors of regularly purchasing organic produce.

Relating back to the course, I particularly enjoyed the limitations section of this study and the authors' suggestion of future research applying a quantitative approach to "to quantify the relative impact of the different variables on intention and purchasing behaviour of organic produce" (p. 8). For further discussion, see question #1 below.

Choose two of the questions below, each citing at least one example in each from the study. Reply to your classmates throughout the week.

Question I: How do the authors justify a qualitative approach to this study, including the snowball sampling and in-depth interview methods chosen? Based on this course, is a qualitative approach appropriate for this study, as opposed to a quantitative approach? Explain why or why not, citing at least one example from the study.

Question II: The authors explored the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model and found evidence of the attitude-behaviour gap. Explain your understanding of the TPB model. Evaluate the reliability of the authors' interpretation of these findings, considering the study's selectiveness of participants who were aware of organic produce benefits but did not regularly purchase, without including those with similar attitudes who did buy organic products. Cite at least one example from the study.

Question III: This study makes both a theoretical and practical contribution, in that it seeks to understand barriers to organic produce purchasing in South Africa and aims to address these barriers. How do the authors' use the findings of the study to propose creative communications recommendations? Are the authors' recommendations justified or are they overly ambitious based on the study findings? Explain why or why not, citing at least one example from the study in your response.

Reference

Mkhize, S., & Ellis, D. (2020). Creativity in marketing communication to overcome barriers to organic produce purchases: The case of a developing nation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 242, 1-9. 118415.

Reference no: EM133641626

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