EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

Compiled by:

Rutvik Pathak A-35

Mayur Peswani A-38
Rahul Purswani A-39
Shivangi Agarwal B-01
Tania Patel B-41

Submitted to
Prof. Jinal Parikh

EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

Table of contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

PROBLEM DEFINITION
4
A)BACKGROUNG TO THE PROBLEM
B) STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
C) OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

LITERATURE REVIEW

RESEARCH DESIGN

LISTS OF GRAPHS

10

INTERPRETATIONS AND FINDINGS

13

EXHIBITS

22

REFERENCES

25

EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Over the past two decades the number of working women in India has increased
tremendously. Even as the demand and consumption for processed and packed food has gone
up we still follow the culture of eating food that is cooked fresh daily at home, unlike homes
in the western world. The Indian women do all their buying freshly. They buy fresh
vegetables daily and cook fresh food daily. They dont have the habit of cooking and keeping
for a whole week.
The taste of the fresh food is definitely better than food cooked and stored. But even though
the practice of cooking daily is very much prevalent, the time devoted to cooking a meal has
been reduced considerably. The purpose of our study is to understand how the change in
occupational status of women has affected their food buying and cooking behaviour.

EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

PROBLEM DEFINITION:
A) BACKGROUND:
Food is an important part of Indian culture, playing a role in everyday life as well as in
festivals. In many families, everyday meals are sit-down affairs consisting of two to three
main course dishes, varied accompaniments such as chutneys and pickles, carbohydrate
staples such as Rice and Roti (bread), as well as desserts. Food is not just important for
eating, but it is also a way of socializing, getting together with family, relatives and friends.
With the rise in number of working women majority of young Indians are moving away from
home-made food, instead buying their packaged, takeaways and snacks from supermarkets
and eating out in restaurants that offer a range of cuisines. Outlets of KFC, Mc Donalds,
Pizza hut, subways are mushrooming across the country. Food processing industry is on the
rise .Indias food processing sector accounts for about 7 per cent of its gross domestic
product, or about $70 billion, while the restaurant sectors size is estimated at $20 billion.
Also many people today lack basic cooking skills, which are not being passed on from
mother to child as much as they were in the past. Further globalisation and the need for
increased productivity means that people will work more irregular hours. As flexi-time and
home-based work become more commonplace, food will be consumed at increasingly
unconventional times.
It is well documented that factors such as longer working hours, more working women and
smaller households mean that consumers are increasingly turning to meal options that are
quicker and easier to prepare, such as ready meals, cooking aids and takeaway meals.
In the past women were in some ways thought of as being inferior to men. The typical
lifestyle among families was for women to stay at home while men worked, and this was the
acknowledged as a way of life for both parties. Although certain generalisations still exist
much of this has changed, especially over last century.
We are no more in the era where the society is dominated by the alpha males. Women at this
time walk parallel as compared to men. In earlier days men were known to work and women
to deal with the households but now the impression of women as housewives have changed.
They have started earning and so have become self-sufficient. Women these days are no more
dependent on men. And now when women have started working it is quite inevitable that
their life would change and their working status would affect their daily work that they were
supposed to do. So here we want to know if the working status of women alters their habits
like cooking buying and in what way.
Women who work tend to concentrate more on their work and so they behave differently as
compared to the previous times. They dont really get time to cook and to involve themselves
in household activities like buying, etc. so here by this research we want to see how working
status change lives of women.

EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

B) STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The purpose of this study is to discuss the changes that take place in the normal work
of women like cooking buying due to their work lifestyle. Because of working they
obviously get less time for other things so here we want to find out the effect of
working status of women on their cooking and buying habits.

C) OBJECTIVES:

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:
To understand the effects of occupational status on women cooking and buying behaviour.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE:

To gauge the time devoted by women to cooking daily

Understand the buying preferences of working women

Impact of working schedule on cooking pattern

EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

LITERATURE REVIEW:

1. New lifestyle determinants of womens food shopping behaviour

-Mary Lou Roberts and Lawrence H. Wetzel
ABSTRACT
Women's current high levels of participation in the labour force have focused attention on
changing life-styles and consumption patterns. This study uses life-style variables as
predictors of food shopping behaviour. A set of intervening variables reflecting women's
attitudes toward food preparation explains their food shopping behaviour better than either a
working/nonworking classification or general role orientations

2. Food shopping and preparation: psychographic differences between working women

and housewives.
Ralph w. Jackson
Stephen w. Mc Daniel
ABSTRACT
A research study is described which compared the responses of 246 working wives and 181
housewives to several food shopping- and preparation-related psychographic statements.
Results show that working wives tended to have a greater dislike for food shopping and
cooking that seemed to stem primarily from time considerations. Working wives also
exhibited a tendency to be less concerned with the impact of their food shopping and
preparation activities on other family members.

3. The Food Consumer in the 21stCentury: New Research Perspectives

Ben Sneaker
ABSTRACT
A far more complex set of factors are now driving food consumption patterns in highIncome countries than economists have traditionally analysed in demand studies. Food
Consumers have moved up Maslows hierarchy of needs pyramid from satisfying basic
Physiological needs. If the traditional focus was on quantity demands for homogeneous
Commodities, attention needs to increasingly be given to the demand for qualitydifferentiated
Food products. Although the income elasticity in terms of quantity may be low, the elasticity
for many food attributes, such as nutrition and health, safety, convenience, and diversity, are
quite high. Where people buy food, the form in which they buy it and where they eat it are all
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EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

Changing. To simply distinguish between food consumed at home and away from home is no
Longer adequate. Rapid demographic and socioeconomic changes, such as the massive
entrance of women into the workforce and increasing multi-ethnicity, are a fundamental
driver of food Buying and dietary patterns.
4. An exploratory study of grocery shopping stressors
-Russell Aylett and Vincent Van Mitchell
ABSTRACT
Many factors affect the store patronage decision, e.g. location, service levels, pricing policies,
merchandise assortment, store environment and store image, but very little research has
considered stress as a determinant. This is despite the increase in dual income families and
longer working hours which are making general shopping a more stressful activity for many
families because of time pressure and lack of response by retailers. This exploratory research
confirms grocery shopping to be stressful, but time pressure was mentioned as only one
factor causing shopping stress; other factors included: crowd density, staff attitude and
training, store layout/relocation, impulse purchasing pressure, location, product assortment,
music, and lighting. The article concludes by proposing a shopping stress curve for future
examination.

5. Buying time and saving time: strategies for managing household production
-Sharon Nichols and Karen Fox
ABSTRACT
Time-buying strategies used more often by employed-wife families than non employed-wife
families were purchase of child care, meals away from home, and disposable diapers. Timesaving strategies used by employed wives were preparing fewer meals at home, reduced time
in household production, and reduced time in leisure. Wife's employment made no difference
in time spent in household production by other family members.

6. Wifes occupational status as a consumer behaviour construct

Chris T. Allen and Charles M. Schaninger
ABSTRACT
As a summary construct, wife's occupational status is likely to capture the effects of a number
of underlying forces that influence lifestyle and consumption patterns. Significant differences
across wife's occupational-status groups were found for food, beverage and alcohol
consumption, makeup usage, clothing purchases, shopping behaviour and deal proneness,
media usage, and major and minor appliance ownership.

EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

RESEARCH DESIGN
Our research was conducted by using qualitative research method i.e. filling up
questionnaires from respondents. We followed a simple random sampling method (NonProbability technique) as it was convenient to us to collect relevant information. After
collecting the data, analysis was done by using various statistical techniques in SPSS
software. Following were constraints to our research:-

LIMITATIONS

Lack of time
Research was only pertaining to women
Geographical constraints
Unavailability of respondents due to festive season
Lack of seriousness among respondents

A. Data Collection
Primary Data Collection: Structured Survey
A set of questionnaire was devised, reviewed and approved before execution which is
attached in the exhibit.

Executional Method: Mainly the questionnaire was created in Google forms &
circulated through Email and other social networks. In case if the respondent was
unable to use the internet facility, he/she was called up and his /her responses were
recorded. Also, some respondents were approached in person at their convenient place
and responses were taken. The gist of the survey undertaken is as shown in the figure.

EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

B. Scaling Techniques
a) Likert Scale: In this survey, this scale was used because we wanted to gauge the
impact on womens buying and cooking habits because of their occupation status.
It was also easier for the respondents to understand how to use the scale making it
suitable for mail, telephone, personal & electronic interviews.
b) Dichotomy Scale: Yes/ No were the option in two of its critical questions
C. Sampling Technique:
Non- Probability Sampling Technique: Because there is no chance-selection
procedures involved in survey method. It relied on the researchers personal judgment
& convenience.
Sampling Method: Convenience Sampling
Used because it was least expensive and least time consuming of all sampling
techniques. The sampling units were easier to access, measureable & co-operative.

Necessary Sample Size = (Z-score) * StdDev*(1-StdDev) / (margin of error)

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
a. Research Design
In this study, a descriptive research has been chosen.
b. Data Collection Method
Personal survey has been used to collect the data through the questionnaire.
c.

Sampling Method

Convenience sampling method has been used to select the samples.

d. Sample Size
Sample of 148 respondents has been taken from Surat and Ahmedabad

EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

CHARTS

Marital Status

unmarried

married

WORK DURATION
part time
full time
self employed

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EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

HOW OFTEN DO YOU COOK

once a day

twice a day

never

depends

SATISFACTION LEVEL
70
60

highly satisfied

50

satisfid

40

neutral

30

dissatisfied

20

highly dissatisfied

10
0

FOOD PREFERED WHILE BUYING

80
street food
60

frozen food
executive

40

snacks
20
0

frozen food
street food

11

snacks
executive

EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

WHICH PLACES DO YOU GENERALLY PREFER FOR

GROCERY SHOPPING

shopping malls

locals

12

home delivery

EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

INTERPRETATIONS AND FINDINGS

1) ANOVA
1) GROCERY SHOPPING AND WORK DURATION

H0: there is no connection between the grocery shopping and work duration.
H1: there is connection between the grocery shopping and work duration.

Descriptives
Descriptives
grocery or shopping
N

Mean

Std. Deviation

Std. Error

95% Confidence Interval for Mean

Lower Bound

Minimum

Upper Bound

part time

32

1.50

.880

.156

1.18

1.82

full time

36

1.44

.695

.116

1.21

1.68

self employed

20

2.00

.918

.205

1.57

2.43

Total

88

1.59

.839

.089

1.41

1.77

The ANOVA box shows us the significance value which shows the condition means are
relatively the same or different. If the significance value is higher than 0.05 then, there is no
difference between the conditions.

Here the actual significance value is p= 0.043 which is lower than 0.05, then it can be said
that there is significant difference between the conditions. Therefore H0 is accepted.

ANOVA
grocery or shopping
Sum of Squares
Between Groups

df

Mean Square

4.384

2.192

Within Groups

56.889

85

.669

Total

61.273

87

F
3.275

Sig.
.043

Conclusion
The result shows that due to varied work timings or job commitments, Women do grocery
shopping accordingly i.e. either they go themselves or take help of their maid/servant.
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EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

From the results so far, we know that there are significant differences between the groups as a
whole. The table below, Multiple Comparisons, shows which groups differed from each
other. The Tukey post-hoc test is generally the preferred test for conducting post-hoc tests on
a one-way ANOVA, but there are many others. We can see from the table below that there is
a significant difference in time to complete the problem between the group of full time and
self-employed women (p = 0.044), as well as between the part time and self-employed
women (p = 0.034). However, there were no differences between the full time and part time
women (p = 0.958).

Multiple Comparisons
Dependent Variable: grocery or shopping
Tukey HSD
(I) work duration

(J) work duration

Mean Difference

Std. Error

Sig.

(I-J)

95% Confidence Interval

Lower Bound

full time

Upper Bound

.056

.199

.958

-.42

.53

self employed

-.500

.233

.087

-1.06

.06

part time

-.056

.199

.958

-.53

.42

.228

.044

-1.10

-.01

part time

.500

.233

.087

-.06

1.06

full time

.556

.228

.044

.01

1.10

part time

full time

self employed

-.556

self employed
*. The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level.

2) OCCUPATION AND PREFERENCE OF FOOD STUFF WHILE BUYING

H0: there is no connection between the occupation and preference of food stuff while
Buying
H1: there is connection between the occupation and preference of food stuff while
buying
Descriptive
preference while buying
N

Mean

Std. Deviation

Std. Error

95% Confidence Interval for Mean

Lower Bound

Minimum

Upper Bound

student

92

1.61

.491

.051

1.51

1.71

business

32

1.63

.492

.087

1.45

1.80

job

16

2.00

.000

.000

2.00

2.00

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EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

professional
Total

2.00

.000

.000

2.00

2.00

148

1.68

.470

.039

1.60

1.75

The ANOVA box shows us the significance value which shows the condition means are
relatively the same or different. If the significance value is higher than 0.05 then, there is no
difference between the conditions.

ANOVA
preference while buying
Sum of Squares
Between Groups

do

Mean Square

3.019

1.006

Within Groups

29.413

144

.204

Total

32.432

147

F
4.927

Sig.
.003

Here the actual significance value is p= 0.03 which is lower than 0.05, then it can be said that
there is significant difference between the conditions. Therefore H0 is accepted.

Conclusion
The result shows that the occupation or the type of work a women has an impact on her
buying behaviour when it comes to getting food stuff for consumption.

2) REGRESSION
This table provides the R and R2 values. The R value represents the simple correlation and
is 0.211 (the "R" Column), which indicates a high degree of correlation. The R2 value (the "R
Square" column) indicates how much of the total variation in the dependent variable, can be
explained by the independent variable. In this case, 45% can be explained.

Model Summary
Model

.211

R Square

.045

Adjusted R

Std. Error of the

Square

Estimate
.038

.461

a. Predictors: (Constant), working

This table indicates that the regression model predicts the dependent variable
significantly well. How do we know this? Look at the "Regression" row and go to the
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EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

"Sig." column. This indicates the statistical significance of the regression model that
was run. Here, p < 0.0005, which is less than 0.05, and indicates that, overall, the
regression model statistically significantly predicts the outcome variable (i.e., it is a
good fit for the data).

ANOVA
Model

Sum of Squares
Regression

do

Mean Square

1.444

1.444

Residual

30.988

146

.212

Total

32.432

147

F
6.805

Sig.
.010

a. Dependent Variable: preference while buying

b. Predictors: (Constant), working

3) FACTOR ANALYSIS

Descriptive Statistics
Mean

Std. Deviation

Analysis N

marital status

1.51

.502

148

family members

3.54

.759

148

working

1.57

.497

148

time spend cooking

1.73

.796

148

have you cook or maid

1.70

.459

148

food preference

3.00

1.143

148

occupation

1.59

.887

148

Interpretation
The descriptive information shows the means and standard deviations for all of the eight
variables, as well as all possible bivariate correlations and their p values. We note that all of
the correlations are positive and significant as might be expected of these variables.

KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olin Measure of Sampling Adequacy.

.500

Approx. Chi-Square
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity

298.707

do

21

Sig.

.000

16

EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

The KMO statistics varies between 0 and 1. A value of 0 indicates that the sum of partial
correlations is large relative to the sum of correlations, indicating diffusion in the pattern of
correlations. A value close to 1 indicates that patterns of correlations are relatively compact
and so factor analysis should yield distinct and reliable factors. Kaiser has recommended that
accepting values greater than 0.5 as acceptable. Furthermore, values between 0.5 and 0.7 are
mediocre, values between 0.7 and 0.8 are good, values between 0.8 and 0.9 are great and
values above 0.9 are superb. For these data the value is 0.500, which is acceptable.

Communalities
Initial

Extraction

marital status

1.000

.864

family members

1.000

.758

working

1.000

.675

time spend cooking

1.000

.813

have you cook or maid

1.000

.653

food preference

1.000

.536

occupation

1.000

.872

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

The Principal Component communalities (Extraction, as the Initial are always 1.00) range
from .536 to .872, thus most of the variance of these variables was accounted for by this two
dimensional factor solution. One can see that the corresponding Extraction communalities
for the Common Factor analysis were a bit smaller (as would be expected) but still show the
majority of the variance of all variables represented in the two factor solution. Note that the
"Initial" communality estimates for the SPSS version of a Principal Axis Common Factor
Preference according to Communalities
Occupation
Marital status
Time spend cooking.
Family members
Working
Have you cook or maid
Food Preference

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EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

Total Variance Explained

Component

Initial Eigenvalues
Total

% of Variance

Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings

Cumulative %

Total

% of Variance

Cumulative %

2.056

29.373

29.373

2.056

29.373

29.373

1.670

23.857

53.230

1.670

23.857

53.230

1.444

20.634

73.864

1.444

20.634

73.864

.750

10.708

84.572

.572

8.166

92.738

.329

4.702

97.440

.179

2.560

100.000

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

This table shows you the actual factors that were extracted. If you look at the section labelled
Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings, it shows you only those factors that met your cut-off
Criterion (extraction method). In this case, there were three factors with eigenvalues greater than
1. SPSS always extracts as many factors initially as there are variables in the dataset, but the rest
18

EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

Of these didnt make the grade. The % of variance column tells you how much of the total
Variability (in all of the variables together) can be accounted for by each of these summary scales
Or factors. Factor 1 accounts for 29.373% of the variability in all 7 variables, and so on.

4) CHI SQUARE TEST

H0: Work duration and Hiring of cook/maid are independent...

H1: Work duration and Hiring of cook/maid are related.

work duration * have you cook or maid Cross tabulation

have you cook or maid
yes
Count
part time

full time

self employed

no
2

14

16

5.4

10.6

16.0

-3.4

3.4

Count

10

17

27

Expected Count

9.2

17.8

27.0

Residual

.8

-.8

Count

13

Expected Count

4.4

8.6

13.0

Residual

2.6

-2.6

Count

19

37

56

19.0

37.0

56.0

Expected Count
Residual

work duration

Total

Total
Expected Count

Chi-Square Tests
Value

df

Asymp. Sig. (2sided)

.058

Likelihood Ratio

6.147

.046

Linear-by-Linear Association

5.502

.019

Pearson Chi-Square

N of Valid Cases

5.694

56

Since the p-value is greater than .05, we can accept the null hypothesis, and
say that Work duration and Hiring of cook/maid are independent.

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EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

2) HOW OFTEN WORKING WOMEN COOK FOOD

H0: Employment status and cooking habits are independent..

H1: Employment status and cooking habits are related.
Chi-Square Tests
Value

do

Asymp. Sig. (2sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

.004

13.519

.004

3.872

.049

13.106

Likelihood Ratio
Linear-by-Linear Association
N of Valid Cases

96

Since the p-value is less than .05, we reject the null hypothesis, and say that
cooking habits of women is affected by their employment status.
working * how often you cook Cross tabulation
how often you cook
once in a day

twice a day

Total

never

depends on
work schedule

yes

Count

11

14

39

Expected Count

9.8

13.8

7.3

8.1

39.0

Residual

1.3

-6.8

-.3

5.9

Count

13

27

11

57

Expected Count

14.3

20.2

10.7

11.9

57.0

Residual

-1.3

6.8

.3

-5.9

24

34

18

20

96

24.0

34.0

18.0

20.0

96.0

working
no

Count
Total
Expected Count

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EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

FINDINGS

Most of the women are neutral about cooking; they do not really have any extreme
thoughts about cooking though some are dissatisfied.

Working women prefer executive meals majorly over any other meals and prefer frozen
food the least.

Due to time constraint most of the women prefer to shop their grocery from the local shops
that might be near their house

EXHIBITS
What is your marital status? *
o
o

Married
Unmarried

How many members are there in your family? *

o
o
o
o

1
2
3
more than 3

Are you working? *

o
o

yes
no

What is your approximate work duration?

o

part time

full time
self employed

How often do you cook food? *

o

once in a day

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EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

o

twice a day

never
depends on work schedule

How much time do you generally spend cooking? *

o
o
o

less than 1 hour

between 1-2 hour
more than 2 hour

What is your satisfaction level while cooking *

1

Highly satisfied

Highly Dissatisfied

What is preferable *
o
o

Take away food

cooking

Have you hired any cook or maid? *

o
o

yes
no

Who does the grocery shopping? *

o
o
o

yourself
maid/servant
other

Which type of food do you prefer while buying? *

o
o
o

street food
Frozen food packets
snacks/fast food
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EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

o

executive meal

Which places do you generally prefer for buying grocery items?

o
o
o

shopping malls
local grocery stores
Home delivery(order through phone/online)

Does your work schedule affect your cooking and buying habits? Please brief-

Age group *
o
o
o
o

18 to 25
26 to 35
36 to 45
45 or above

Occupation *
o
o
o
o
o

Student
Business
Job
professional
none

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EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS ON WOMEN BUYING AND COOKING HABITS

REFERENCES

www.jstor.org/stable/2488830

scholar.google.nl/citations? User=-ay_unUAAAAJ...

https://archive.ama.org/archive/ResourceLibrary/.../4999986.pdf

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