Acceptance of Functional Foods: A Comparison of French, American, and French Canadian Consumers

JoAnne Labrecque,1 Maurice Doyon,2 Francois Bellavance3 and Jane Kolodinsky4

Associate Professor, Department of Marketing, HEC Montreal, 3000, chemin de la C te-Sainte-Catherine, Montral, Qubec, Canada H3T 2A7 (phone: 514-340-6800; o e e fax: 514-340-5631; e-mail: joanne.labrecque@hec.ca). 2 Invited Professor, UMR GAEL INRA, Universit Pierre Mend`s France, France and e e Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics and Consumer Science, Laval University, Canada. 3 Associate Professor, Department of Management Sciences, HEC Montreal, Canada. 4 Professor, Department of Community, Development and Applied Economics, University of Vermont, Vermont.
1

Food products have diversified with industry globalization. To market functional foods efficiently, food managers must gauge cross-cultural variance of functional food acceptance. Expanding on previous research, we investigate young consumers acceptance of functional foods. Data collected in French Canada, United States, and France in 2004 reveal that business students are slightly in favor of functional foods, and associate health benefits with these foods but very few product-related benefits. Students do not have strong opinions on the trustworthiness of information and expressed a slight interest in purchasing this type of product. Analyses of cultural differences revealed significant, albeit small, divergence in these variables. Statistical analysis performed on the full sample assessed the impact of food attitudes and other cognitive and attitudinal factors on the general attitude toward functional foods. Health and product-related benefits and belief about the credibility of information are the main positive determinants of the acceptance of functional foods, followed by high knowledge. Apart from the negative impact of Neophobia, none of the other food attitudes influences attitudes toward functional foods. Linear regressions performed on each subgroup indicated similar positive cross-cultural results for health and product-related benefits. However, cross-cultural differences are detected for knowledge, credibility of information, and food attitudes that influence acceptance of functional foods. Les produits alimentaires se sont diversifi s avec lav` nement de la mondialisation. Pour commere e cialiser efficacement les aliments fonctionnels, les gestionnaires du secteur alimentaire doivent evaluer ` lacceptation des aliments fonctionnels par les diverses cultures. A partir de travaux de recherche ant rieurs, nous avons examin lacceptation des aliments fonctionnels par les jeunes consommateurs. e e Des donn es recueillies en 2004 au Canada francais, aux Etats-Unis et en France ont r v l que les e e ee etudiants en commerce etaient l g` rement en faveur des aliments fonctionnels, leur associaient des e e avantages pour la sant , mais tr` s peu davantages li s aux produits. Les etudiants navaient pas e e e une tr` s bonne opinion concernant la cr dibilit de linformation et ont manifest un faible int r t e e e e ee pour lachat de ces produits. Des analyses des diff rences culturelles ont r v l des divergences, e e ee petites mais significatives. Les analyses statistiques effectu es sur l chantillon total ont evalu e e e limpact des attitudes envers les aliments ainsi que dautres facteurs cognitifs et attitudinaux sur
Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics 54 (2006) 647661 647

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lattitude g n rale envers les aliments fonctionnels. Les avantages pour la sant , les avantages li s e e e e aux produits et les croyances concernant la cr dibilit de linformation sont les principaux facteurs e e ` e favorables a lacceptation des aliments fonctionnels, suivis dun degr de connaissances elev . Outre e limpact n gatif de la n ophobie, aucune autre des attitudes envers les aliments ninflue sur les attitudes e e envers les aliments fonctionnels. Les r gressions lin aires effectu es pour chaque sous-groupe ont e e e indiqu des r sultats positifs similaires. Toutefois, nous avons not des diff rences interculturelles e e e e ` ` quant a la connaissance, a la cr dibilit de linformation et aux attitudes envers les aliments qui e e influencent lacceptation des aliments fonctionnels.

INTRODUCTION In most industrialized countries, changes in demographic patternsespecially the increasing proportion of women in the labor force over the last 30 yearscombined with the increasing use of more sophisticated technology, have profoundly modified the food universe. These phenomena have prompted researchers to examine how consumers have adapted to this new environment. Given that food decisions are complicated for consumers, research has focused on many factors that influence food choice, ranging from the attributes of food itself to attitudes, motives, and intentions, and the influence of the environment on decision making. Drawing on this sizable body of literature, the present study adopts a cross-cultural approach to exploring how attitudes influence the acceptance of functional foods among French, American, and French Canadian young adult consumers. Researchers have developed measures of food-related attitudes in order to understand better how health-related and non-health-related factors influence dietary choices. Steptoe et al (1995) introduced a multidimensional measure of motives related to food choice, including nine factors labeled Health, Mood, Convenience, Sensory appeal, Natural content, Price, Weight control, Familiarity, and Ethical concern. Testing the associations between demographics and their measure of motives, these researchers found differences in motives for food choice associated with sex, age, and income. Roininen et al (1999) subsequently designed a Health and Tastes Attitudes Questionnaire from which they identified three health-related factorsGeneral health interest, Light product interest, and Natural product interestand three taste-related factorsCraving for sweet foods, Using food as a reward, and Pleasure. They also found attitudinal differences based on age and gender, with females being more interested in the health and taste aspects of foods than males, and younger respondents being less concerned with health but more interested in taste than older respondents. Other researchers (Fischler 1990; Rozin et al 1999; Poulain 2002) documented food functions in peoples minds and lives, and how consumers have modified their food habits. In his seminal work LHomnivore, Fischler (1990) discusses how changes in lifestyles and food technology have contributed to a de-structuration of French eating habits, inducing an increase in snacking, among other effects. Poulain (2002) investigated contemporary food habits by exploring different aspects of the organization of daily food intake, and described how social change and an abundant food supply have impacted French consumers food habits and generated a shift toward grazing, characterized by a combination of solitary food intake and structured meals taken in a social context. Rozin et al (1999) studied how consumers beliefs about different food-related aspects vary between countries. They

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found that Americans associate food the most with health and the least with pleasure, and the French are the most food-pleasure-oriented and the least food-health-related group. Acceptance and perceived healthiness of functional foods and the determinants of purchase intentions of food categories ranging from organic to genetically modified foods, including functional foods, have been studied extensively (Bredahl 2001; Makatouni 2002; Bech-Larsen and Grunert 2003; Cox et al 2004; Urula and L hteenm ki 2004; Verbeke a a 2005). According to Verbeke (2005), belief in the health benefits of functional foods is the main determinant of acceptance, followed by the presence of an ill family member, but decreases disproportionately with claimed awareness of the concept. This result refuted the IFIC (1999) findings identifying knowledge as one of the major motivations to either purchase or consume functional foods (in Verbeke 2005). Moreover, these effects were found to outweigh socio-demographic variables as potential determinants of functional foods acceptance. Cox et al (2004), referring to Protection Motivation Theory, examined middle-aged consumers intentions to consume different prototypes of functional foods that could improve memory. They demonstrated that perceived efficacy and selfefficacy, related to the impact of the consumption of functional foods on preventing memory loss, are the most important determinants of intentions to consume functional foods. Perceptions of functional foods have been compared across cultures. Bech-Larsen and Grunert (2003) studied Danish, Finnish, and American consumers attitudes toward functional foods and their perception of the healthiness of these foods. Notably, the Finnish had a more positive attitude and acceptance of the healthiness of functional enrichments than the American consumers. The Danish respondents exhibited the most negative attitude. Nonetheless, few studies have explored cross-cultural variance of acceptance of functional foods within different segments of the population and how food attitudes and other cognitive and attitudinal factors condition acceptance of functional foods. Given food product diversification and industry globalization, food managers need more information on differences in food attitudes in order to target the right type of products to the right type of consumers in each country. This study expands on previous research and investigates young consumers food attitudes. Two aims motivate this study: (1) to identify whether acceptance of functional foods varies across cultures; and (2) to verify whether food attitudes and other cognitive and attitudinal factors influence acceptance of functional foods. METHOD To attain the previously stated objectives, an exploratory study was conducted on college/university students from three countriesFrance, United States, and Canada (French Quebecers).1 The choice of countries is motivated by the fact that North America and Europe are the second and third most important markets for the relatively new functional foods (Australian Government 2004), along with the accessibility of researchers to consumers in the selected countries and the expected important contrast between French and American food consumption and food attitudes; French-speaking Quebec consumers are believed to be situated at the halfway point. Although our sample is not representative of the population of functional food consumers, college/university students represent an interesting group of consumers because they were identified, together with women and

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consumers aged 55 years and older, as the segments most likely to adopt functional foods in their diet (IFIC 2000). The exploratory nature of this study does not require that the sample be representative of the population. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to college/university students. A total of 611 students enrolled in a business program in Canada (Quebec n = 280), France (n = 170), and the United States (n = 161) completed the questionnaire in 2004. To ensure as homogeneous a sample as possible across countries, questionnaires of students under age 18 years or over age 25 years were discarded. In the final sample, which consists of 545 fully completed surveys, French Canadian students predominate, with 227 respondents, while the American and French respondent populations are of similar size, 155 and 163. The average age of the sample is 21.9 years (Canada/Quebec: 22.8; United States: 21.7; and France: 20.8) and the proportion of male and female respondents varies somewhat across countries, with the largest proportion of male respondents in the United States (57%) and the smallest in Canada (42%). The characteristics of the Quebec education system explain why French Canadian students were slightly older than the sample average.2 Descriptive statistics of the sample are presented in Table 1. In addition to the demographic variables, the questionnaire included a set of general food-related attitude statements corresponding to scale measures taken from the literature. Three scales measure eating-related attitudesPleasure (Roininen et al 1999) and Cooking enjoyment and Convenience (Kolodinsky and Labrecque 1996). Two scales measure health-related attitudesHealth Consciousness (Kraft and Goodell 1993) and Diethealth link (Rozin et al 1999). Two scales measure novelty-seeking attitudesFood Neophobia3 (Pliner and Hobden 1992) and Innovativeness (Goldsmith and Hofacker 1991). All items related to these scales were measured on a 7-point or a 10-point Likert scale, with the categories ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. For each scale, factor analyses (Oblimin rotation) using the full sample were conducted to test the unidimensionality of the scales. Items with factor loadings below 0.5 were excluded from the analyses. Scale reliability was measured using Cronbachs Alpha. High internal consistency was observed within most food attitude scales, apart from those on eating-related and novelty-seeking-related attitudes, for which Cronbachs Alphas () were slightly lower than 0.70. Final scores corresponded to the mean of the items defining the scales. Following this procedure, the original sets of items for the Pleasure, Health Consciousness, and Innovativeness scales were reduced from 6 to 3 items. The 10 items from the original Food Neophobia scale loaded on two factors, each composed of 3 items and

Table 1. Sample descriptive statistics Age Country Canada (Quebec) United States France Total Number of cases 227 155 163 544 Mean (SD) 22.9 (1.3) 21.7 (1.1) 20.8 (1.6) 21.9 (1.6) Male (%) 42 57 52 49 Sex Female (%) 58 43 48 51

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identified for the purpose of this research as Neophobia and Ethnic Food Enjoyment. The other items of the original Neophobia scale were deleted because their loading on both factors was under 0.5. Table 2 describes these results. Another section included questions evaluating the respondents knowledge of functional foods, their overall attitude, their beliefs about the benefits associated with this product category, and their perception of the credibility of the information concerning these food products. Respondents were first asked to specify their degree of knowledge of the term functional foods on a 4-point categorical variable with the question: Have you heard the term functional foods? (yes, occasionally, very little, never). Responses were sorted into three categories such that the first corresponded to participants who reported having a good knowledge of this term, the second corresponded to those having a partial knowledge of the term, and the third comprised respondents who did not know the term functional food at all. This measure of knowledge is somewhat different from that used by Verbeke (2005), who evaluated respondents knowledge of functional foods based on three items measured on a 7-point scale, the sum of which was recoded into three categorieslow, medium, and high knowledge.4 Before answering the other questions related to functional foods, students were provided with the following definition of functional food: Functional food products are a new category of product with an added value, created to meet the expectations of consumers who are more health conscious than ever. Within the food category, functional food products are designed to offer nutritional elements that promote better health, in addition to the nutritional elements they naturally contain.5 Students general attitude and credibility of information were measured by the scales used by Kozup et al (2003) to evaluate overall attitude toward a food and credibility of nutritional information provided. Beliefs concerning health-related benefits were measured on a 5-point bipolar scale designed by Kolodinsky et al (2003). Product-related benefits referred to Bredahls (2001) corresponding items, and are associated with improvement of standard of living and quality. Purchase intention was measured with respect to three specific functional products: eggs with Omega-3, milk with calcium, and orange juice with calcium. Factor analyses (Oblimin rotation) were also conducted to investigate the unidimensionality of the scales. Table 3 reports the results. In the last section of the questionnaire, respondents were asked to evaluate their frequency of consumption of different products that included milk with Omega-3 and eggs with Omega-3 on a 7-point scale, which ranged from never to many times a week. They also indicated the health value that they associated with these products. Questionnaire Translation Since most scales were taken from articles written in English, the questionnaire was first written in English, then translated into French and back-translated by a professional translator to ascertain the equivalent meaning in both languages. RESULTS Attitudes Toward Functional Foods Before discussing how beliefs and attitudes toward functional foods vary across countries, levels of knowledge of functional foods are reported across countries. Results on the

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Table 2. Description of the food attitude scales Factor Eating-related Cooking enjoyment (Cronbachs = 0.87) Item On a scale of 110, where 1 means not close at all and 10 very close, indicate how close each statement matches your point of view I enjoy cooking I enjoy cooking when I invite people to my home I enjoy trying new recipes I enjoy looking at cookbooks and food When I eat, I concentrate on enjoying the taste of the food I finish my meal even when I do not like the taste of the food An essential part of my weekend is eating delicious food On a scale of 17, rate the importance of these aspects when you purchase food in general Preparation time Convenience Usage Please rate those statements on a 7-point scale I read more health-related articles than I did three years ago I am interested in information about my health I am concerned about my health all the time On a scale of 17, how much of an effect do you believe diet has on the following? Heart disease Obesity Good health in general Cancer Please rate those statements on a 7-point scale If I heard that a new food product was available through a local store, I would be interested enough to buy it I would consider buying a new food product, even if I hadnt heard of it I know more about new foods than other people do 0.773 0.856 0.900 0.771 Factor loading

0.897 0.896 0.872 0.733 0.661 0.784 0.805

Pleasure (Cronbachs = 0.61)

Convenience (Cronbachs = 0.64)

0.788 0.896 0.837

Health-related Health consciousness (Cronbachs = 0.79)

Diet-health link (Cronbachs = 0.78)

0.828 0.818 0.778 0.736

Novelty-seeking-related Innovativeness (Cronbachs = 0.60)

0.759 0.693 (Continued)

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Table 2. Continued Factor Neophobia (Cronbachs = 0.67) Item I dont trust new food Ethnic food looks too weird to eat I am afraid to eat things I have never tried before I like foods from different countries At dinner parties, I will try new food I am afraid to eat things I have never tried before Factor loading 0.704 0.810 0.804 0.898 0.790 0.851

Ethnic food enjoyment (Cronbachs = 0.81)

degree of knowledge of the term functional foods (Table 4) show that higher proportions of American students (56.9%) and French Canadian students (45.8%) had heard about functional foods before the study when compared with the French students (10.6%). The majority of the French students (63.8%) reported not having heard of the term before the study. The proportion of American students who have heard about functional foods is smaller (57%) than that observed in the American population by the IFIC in its 2000 survey, which found that 82% of Americans can identify a functional food but that 72% had no concerns about these products. This variation might be explained by important differences in the samples. Analyses of variance and Scheffes tests were carried out on the attitudinal and belief scores associated with functional foods and on the credibility of information about this product category. As shown in Table 5, overall, respondents were slightly in favor of functional foods (5.05 on a 7-point scale), associated some health benefits with these foods (6.52 on a 10-point scale), but very few product-related benefits (4.21 on a 7-point scale). In addition, students did not have strong opinions on whether they could trust the information (4.12 on a 7-point scale) and expressed a slightly positive interest in purchasing this type of product (7.55 on a 10-point scale). In terms of cultural differences, analyses revealed significant, albeit small, differences in the scores related to these variables. French Canadian students expressed a more favorable attitude (5.27 on a 7-point scale), associated higher health benefits (6.75 on a 10-point scale), reported having more trust in the information (4.36 on a 7-point scale), and showed a stronger purchase intention (7.87 on a 10-point scale) than French students. Between American students and the other students, no significant differences were detected apart from higher purchase intention (7.65 on a 10-point scale) when compared with the French students (7.01 on a 10-point scale). Thus, their means are more similar to those of the French Canadian students than those of the French students. Overall, French students represent the subgroup that associates the fewest benefits with functional foods and that is least in favor of this type of products. To further investigate the acceptance of functional foods among young consumers, students were asked to report their actual frequency of consumption of two functional foods (milk with Omega-3 and eggs with Omega-3), together with the health value they

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Table 3. Description of attitude, belief, and credibility measures Variable General attitude functional foods (7-point scale, Cronbachs = 0.95) Item Based on what you have heard about functional foods and on the definition given, what is your overall attitude toward this product category? Favorable-unfavorable Good-bad Positive-negative We want to know your opinions concerning functional foods, compared with traditional foods. For each pair of statements, please indicate on a scale of 1 to 10 how close each statement matches your point of view. Would you say that functional foods are Healthierless healthy Beneficial for healthharmful to health Good for the immune systemharmful to the immune system More nutritiousless nutritious Lengthens peoples lifespanshortens peoples lifespan Please rate those statements on a 7-point scale Functional food products will improve the standard of living of future generations Functional food products will increase my own and my familys standard of living Functional food products are better quality foodstuffs than other food products In general, how do you perceive information about functional foods? Undependabledependable Untrustworthytrustworthy Dishonesthonest Would you like to try such products? Would you buy such products if you happened to see them in a store? Would you actively seek out such products in a store in order to purchase them? Factor loading

0.960 0.964 0.948

Health benefits (10-point scale, Cronbachs = 0.87)

0.851 0.912 0.866 0.715 0.723

Product-related benefits (7-point scale, Cronbachs = 0.86)

0.908 0.923 0.818

Credibility of info (7-point scale, Cronbachs = 0.90)

Purchase intention (10-point scale, Cronbachs = 0.82)

0.915 0.951 0.874 0.862 0.933 0.781

associated with these two products. This information is then used to validate previous attitudes reported in Table 5. Apart from product-related benefits, the results reported in parentheses in Table 5 were almost the same for the smaller sample of users and the complete sample (users and non-users of functional foods). This fact seems to validate the quality of the attitudes reported.

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Table 4. Knowledge of functional foods Proportions Total Canada United States France

N 538 225 153 160

Yes 38.5% 45.8% 56.9% 10.6%

Occasionally or very little 30.3% 29.8% 35.9% 25.6%

Never 31.2% 24.4% 7.2% 63.8%

Chi-square (d.f. = 4) = 137.4; p < 0.001 (seven observations were missing).

The sample mean on frequency of consumption shows that students who consume milk with Omega-3 or eggs with Omega-3 do so about once a month. Analyses of variance on these variables reveal cultural differences. Consistent with the results on purchase intention, American and French Canadian students reported knowingly eating at least one of the two functional products more often (about once a month) than the French students (less than once a month). These results suggest that functional foods are not part of young consumers regular diet, especially for French students. However, within the segment of students who reported eating these two products once every other week or more, significant proportions of respondents reported higher rates of consumption. In fact, 42% of Canadian students and 51% of American students reported eating these functional food products at least once every two weeks. This proportion was only 7% in the French group. Moreover, consistent with our results related to beliefs about health benefits, French Canadian (5.28) students attributed a higher health value to milk and eggs with Omega-3 than French (4.55) and American (4.73) students did. Correlations between the food attitude scales and the variables related to functional foods were computed to investigate the associations between these variables. Table 6 reveals significant, albeit weak, associations between most of the food attitude scales. The strongest statistically significant correlations were positive, observed between the following variables: Attitude, Health benefits, Product benefits, Credibility of information, and Purchase intention. Accordingly, food attitudes and other cognitive and attitudinal factors appear to influence acceptance of functional foods, given that purchase intention is positively correlated with variables such as attitudes toward functional foods, health benefits, product benefits, and credibility of information. To further investigate the determinants of the general attitudes toward functional foods and to expand on Verbekes study of the role of cognitive, attitudinal, and sociodemographic variables in the acceptance of functional foods, multiple linear regression was used to assess the impact of beliefs about health and product-related benefits, knowledge, credibility of information, food attitudes, and gender (independent variables) on the general attitude toward functional foods (dependent variable; see definition in Table 3). The results for the full sample, presented in the first column of Table 7, show that health- and product-related benefits, high knowledge, and the belief about the credibility of information have a positive effect on the general attitude toward functional foods, while Neophobia has a negative effect. None of the other food attitudes significantly influences the attitude toward functional foods when the full sample is examined. The variance explained (R2 ) by these variables is 40.6%. Similar to Verbeke (2005), we

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Table 5. Summary of results related to functional foods

17 General attitude (p = 0.003) 6.753 6.55 6.191 6.52 (6.56) 4.413 4.22 3.941 4.21 (3.77) 4.363 4.08 3.841 4.12 (4.16) 7.873 7.653 7.011,2 7.55 (7.58)

110 Health benefits (p = 0.005)

17 Product -related benefits (p = 0.001) 17 Credibility Info (p = 0.000) 110 Purchase intention (p = 0.000) N

17 Frequency of consumption (p = 0.00) 159 114 159 432 4.353 4.433 2.671,2 3.75

17 Health value (p = 0.000) 5.282,3 4.731 4.551 4.87

1. Canada 2. United States 3. France Total

5.273 5.06 4.741 5.05 (5.10)

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Superscripts indicate countries whose mean scores differ at p = 0.01 (Canada = 1, United States = 2, and France = 3).

Table 6. Correlations between food attitudes and attitudes toward functional foods Attitude functional Health Prod. Cred. Purch. Cook. foods ben. ben. info intention enj. Pleas. Conv. Diet health link Health consc

Ethnic food enjoy.

Innov

1 1 0.339 0.283 0.085 0.095 0.042 0.117 0.082 0.094 1 0.313 0.004 0.065 0.094 0.039 0.022 0.075 1 0.025 0.002 0.059 0.141 0.171 0.166 1 0.292 0.072 0.157 0.264 0.243 1 0.030 0.121 0.151 0.156 0.278 0.028 0.309 0.125 0.090 0.101 1 0.014 0.050 0.123 0.128 0.081 0.157 0.071 0.080 0.000

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Attitude functional foods Health ben. Product ben. Credibility of info. Purchase intention Cooking enjoyment Pleasure Convenience Diethealth link Health conscious Ethnic food enjoyment Innovative Neophobia 1 0.275 0.084 0.116 0.007

0.510 0.498 0.420 0.450 0.014 0.003 0.039 0.077 0.062 0.071

1 0.386 0.400 0.359 0.018 0.037 0.090 0.042 0.075 0.060

1 0.345 0.310 0.044

1 0.321 0.165 1 0.103

0.052 0.129

0.075 0.058

Correlation significant at 0.01. Correlation significant at 0.05.

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Table 7. Determinants of the general attitude toward functional foods Full sample (N = 493) a p Health benefits Product benefits Knowledge-high Knowledge-medium Credibility of info Cooking enjoyment Pleasure Health consciousness Innovativeness Neophobia Ethnic food enjoyment Diet-health link Convenience Sex Adjusted R2 Maximum variance inflation factor Test of heteroskedasticityb
a b

French Canadians (N = 218) a p

Americans (N = 118) a p

French (N = 157) a p 0.215 0.002 0.375 <0.001 0.068 0.342 0.019 0.782 0.158 0.027 0.138 0.060 0.044 0.546 0.049 0.485 0.022 0.752 0.218 0.011 0.017 0.826 0.012 0.859 0.025 0.706 0.025 0.709 0.355 1.71 p = 0.8348

0.317 <0.001 0.308 <0.001 0.111 0.010 0.056 0.177 0.196 <0.001 0.066 0.094 0.028 0.465 0.050 0.211 0.039 0.333 0.134 <0.001 0.017 0.681 0.023 0.533 0.008 0.829 0.009 0.806 0.406 1.52 p = 0.6317

0.368 <0.001 0.358 <0.001 0.278 <0.001 0.314 <0.001 0.130 0.077 0.199 0.185 0.047 0.485 0.250 0.089 0.207 0.001 0.147 0.120 0.119 0.045 0.153 0.100 0.005 0.927 0.004 0.964 0.017 0.781 0.135 0.123 0.038 0.555 0.139 0.121 0.126 0.065 0.042 0.615 0.089 0.222 0.154 0.094 0.012 0.827 0.061 0.451 0.049 0.347 0.078 0.369 0.059 0.273 0.117 0.172 0.445 0.381 2.11 4.21 p = 0.7363 p = 0.4776

Standardized estimate of . Whites test (1980).

did not find a significant linear relation between health-related attitudes and acceptance of functional foods nor between gender and acceptance of functional foods. However, whereas Verbeke (2005) reported a negative association between high knowledge and acceptance of functional foods, our results show a positive association, in accordance with the IFIC (1999) findings. In addition to knowledge, credibility of information has a positive effect on acceptance of functional foods, at a magnitude higher than that of knowledge. Furthermore, linear regressions were performed separately for each country (last three columns of Table 7). The results were similar to those of the model for the full sample, except for high knowledge where the regression coefficients were no longer statistically significant at the 5% level for all three countries and for Neophobia for the models with French Canadians and Americans. This is mainly due to lower sample sizes in the separate models. However, a more important difference between the model for the full sample and the three separate models was found for the independent variable Cooking enjoyment. While the impact of Cooking enjoyment on the general attitude toward functional foods is negative and statistically significant for French Canadians at the 5% level and at the 10% level for French students, the impact is positive and statistically significant at the 10% level for the Americans. To test whether the determinants of the acceptance of functional foods vary significantly across cultures, we included in the full model the main effect of country and

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the interaction terms of country with all independent variables (the results of this model are not shown). The only statistically significant interaction was between country and Cooking enjoyment (p = 0.0244). The lack of other significant interactions with country implies that the relationship between acceptance of functional foods and the other variables is similar across countries. A contrast analysis for the interaction between countries and Cooking enjoyment gave the following results: French Canadian versus French students, p = 0.672; French Canadian versus Americans, p = 0.016; French students versus Americans, p = 0.010. Multicollinearity and heteroskedasticity tests were also performed. Results of these tests show that multicollinearity was not a serious problem; all values for variance inflation factors in the regression models were much lower than 10 (Neter et al 1996, p. 387), while heteroskedasticity tests (White 1980) were non-significant (Table 7). SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION One objective of the present research was to identify whether acceptance of functional foods varies across cultures. First, results on the level of knowledge of functional foods reveal the lower level of knowledge of the term functional foods among French students compared with the other students surveyed. Regarding acceptance of functional foods, overall, students slightly favored functional foods, associated some health benefits with these foods, did not have strong opinions on whether they could trust the information, and expressed only a slight positive interest in purchasing this type of product. Results on actual behavior supported these findings. Cultural differences, albeit small, also emerged in the attitudinal and beliefs scores associated with functional foods and regarding the credibility of information. The French students reported less favorable attitudes toward functional foods and indicated that they trust less the information on functional foods than the French Canadian students do. The minor differences in the attitudinal and beliefs scores associated with functional foods across cultures suggest that the market development of this product category could be approached in this perspective as a global market rather than a local market. The adage think global, act local apparently applies to this market. To complete this investigation and meet our final objective, general attitude toward functional foods was regressed on food attitudes and other variables related to functional foods. It is well recognized in the marketing literature that the attitude toward a food product constitutes an antecedent of its purchase intention by consumers, and has managerial implications. Regression results for the full sample showed that health- and product-related benefits, credibility of information, and high knowledge have a positive effect on the students attitude toward functional foods, while Neophobia has a negative effect. Accordingly, while food attitudes make a very small contribution to the variability of the general attitude toward functional foods, beliefs about benefits, be they health- or product-related, together with credibility of information, are the main contributors to the variability of acceptance of functional foods. In contrast to Verbekes findings, knowledge was found to have a positive impact on acceptance of functional foods. Striking findings from this research are the positive impact of product-related benefits and credibility of information on the general attitude toward functional foods. Other researchers have underscored the positive impact of health

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benefits on acceptance of functional foods. Thus, our results suggest that the promotion of other product benefits associated with functional foods, such as high quality, could also help optimize market development. Nevertheless, this type of promotion should be undertaken prudently, given the positive impact of credibility of information, which, rather than the quantity of information, seems to have the strongest influence on the general attitude toward functional foods. In its qualitative study, which explored how to construct effective health messages that are understandable, credible, and scientifically valid, the IFIC (2000) concluded that there is no magic bullet to develop such messages. However, it provided guidelines that include considering the level of awareness and concern consumers have about specific health issues. The type of information, its consistency, and the credibility of the source of the information have more influence on consumers beliefs about the benefits of functional foods than the quantity of the information, and could have a significant impact on the market development of this product category. Much remains to be understood about how consumers react to information on functional foods, and more research should be conducted to understand better how different segments of consumers with different characteristics react to specific information on functional foods, such as food claims. Combined with the fact that young consumers did not express strong confidence in the available information on functional foods, these results suggest that to address the young consumer market, not only would various stakeholders need to develop products appealing to this target segment, but they would also benefit from harmonizing their communication standards to avoid sending mixed messages. NOTES
In Quebec, the survey was conducted at Laval University, University of Qu bec at Trois-Rivi` res, e e and HEC Montr al. In the United States, it was conducted at the University of Vermont and in e France at ESSEC Paris. In all cases, subjects were recruited in business-related classes. 2 In Quebec, as opposed to France and the United States, after high school students have to go to CEGEP for a period of two to three years before being admitted to a university program. 3 Neophobia, in this context, correspond to the fear of new things or experiences. 4 The scale was recoded as follows: low (1 and 2), medium (3, 4, and 5), high (6 and 7). 5 The definition was attributed to a group of University specialists in the questionnaire.
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