Is the Superfruit Dates (Phoenix Dactylifera L.) Meant for High End Consumers?

Figures & data

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework

Table 1. Satisfactory level

Analysis	Items	Value	Source
Reliability Analysis	Cronbach’s Alpha	> 0.60	Hair et al. (2010)
	Composite Reliability
Convergent Validity	Factor Loadings	> 0.50	Hair et al. (2010)
	Average Variance Extracted (AVE)		Fornell and Larcker (1981); Götz et al. (2009)
Discriminant Validity	Square root AVE	> 0.50	Fornell and Larcker (1981)

Table 2. Socio-demographic profiles

Demographic Variables	Category	Sample (n = 329)
		Frequency	(%)
Gender	Male	124	37.7
	Female	205	62.3
Age	16–20 years old	23	6.1
	21–25 years old	132	35.2
	26–30 years old	93	24.8
	31–35 years old	54	14.4
	36–40 years old	32	8.5
	41–45 years old	16	4.3
	46–50 years old	9	2.4
	51 and above	16	4.3
Marital Status	Single	100	30.4
	Married Divorced	221 8	67.2 2.4
Education	LCE/SRP/PMR and below	13	4.0
	MCE/SPM/	77	23.4
	STPM/STAM	36	10.9
	Diploma	73	22.2
	Degree and above	130	39.5
States	Negeri Sembilan	53	16.1
	Putrajaya	5	1.5
	Selangor	130	39.5
	Kelantan	65	19.8
	Perlis	15	4.6
	Kedah	61	18.5
Occupation	Government staff	131	39.8
	Private staff	86	26.1
	Self-employed	52	15.8
	Housewife/husband	17	5.2
	Pensioner	8	2.4
	Student	26	7.9
	Others	9	2.7
Income (monthly)	Below RM3,000 (B40 group)	197	59.9
	Above RM3,001 (Non-B40 group)	132	40.1

Table 3. Reasons for purchasing dates

Reason	B40		Non-B40
	Frequency	(%)	Frequency	(%)
Taste	100	50.8	87	65.9
Advertisement	18	9.1	14	10.6
Family influence	79	40.1	48	36.4
Belief	50	25.4	42	31.8
Health benefits	119	60.4	76	57.6
Souvenir	15	7.6	17	12.9
Affordable price	25	12.7	26	19.7

Table 4. Types of dates bought

	B40		Non-B40
Description	Frequency	(%)	Frequency	Non-B40
Types of Dates
Ajwa	76	38.6	69	52.3
Safri	19	9.6	20	15.2
Majhool	13	6.6	11	8.3
Safawi	27	13.7	26	19.7
Mariami	68	34.5	47	35.6
Not Sure	62	31.5	41	31.1
Others	18	9.1	6	4.5
Frequency of purchase
Everyday	5	2.6	2	1.5
Once a week	25	12.8	21	15.9
Once a month	84	42.9	68	51.5
Once a year	82	41.8	41	31.1

Table 5. Factors influencing fruit consumption patterns

Items	B40		Non-B40
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Attitudes
A5.1 I believe dates have health benefits*	4.72	0.653	4.86	0.366
A5.2 I believe dates price is affordable	4.10	0.879	4.10	0.881
A5.3 I believe consuming dates are good	4.71	0.558	4.77	0.476
A5.4 I believe dates are tasty*	4.45	0.745	4.61	0.548
A5.5 I believed dates are important fruit to be consumed regularly	4.22	0.858	4.35	0.741
A5.6 I believe there is no other food that can substitute dates	3.76	1.036	3.87	0.992
Subjective Norm
SN5.7 My family and friends love to consume dates	4.17	0.794	4.11	0.706
SN5.8 My family and friends think I should consume dates	3.78	0.964	3.68	1.006
SN5.9 Generally, I want to consume dates as I am expected to do so by others	3.11	1.263	2.96	1.256
SN5.10 It is important for me to eat dates	4.14	0.843	4.06	0.836
SN5.11 It is important for me to ensure my family and friends eat dates.	3.99	0.886	4.00	0.829
Intention
INT5.12 I will buy dates in the near future	4.12	0.777	4.18	0.818
INT5.13 I intend to buy dates in the near future	4.08	0.894	4.19	0.857
INT5.14 I plan to but dates in the near future	4.08	0.863	4.17	0.860

* indicate the existence of significant differences for a maximum error level of 10%. SD: standard deviation

Table 6. Reliability and validity analysis

Factors	Items	Standardized loadings	Cronbach’s alpha	Composite reliability	Average variance extracted
Attitude	ATT2	0.553	0.643	0.769	0.405
	ATT3	0.604
	ATT4	0.549
	ATT5	0.791
	ATT6	0.653
Subjective Norm	SN1	0.631	0.765	0.837	0.512
	SN2	0.737
	SN3	0.546
	SN4	0.794
	SN5	0.831
Intention	INT1	0.931	0.932	0.957	0.880
	INT2	0.935
	INT3	0.948

Table 7. Item loadings and cross loadings

Items	Attitude	Subjective Norm	Intention
ATT2	0.553	0.278	0.129
ATT3	0.604	0.263	0.248
ATT4	0.549	0.233	0.154
ATT5	0.791	0.447	0.328
ATT6	0.653	0.524	0.261
SN1	0.400	0.631	0.245
SN2	0.447	0.737	0.427
SN3	0.244	0.546	0.164
SN4	0.496	0.794	0.440
SN5	0.419	0.831	0.504
INT1	0.399	0.558	0.931
INT2	0.308	0.491	0.935
INT3	0.347	0.462	0.948

Values in bold are loadings for items which are above the cutoff value of 0.5.

Table 8. Discriminant Validity

Variables	Attitude	Intention	Subjective Norm
Attitude	0.636
Intention	0.377	0.938
Subjective Norm	0.572	0.540	0.716

Table 9. Structural Model Results

Hypothesis	Paths (Direct Effects)	Path Coefficients	t-Values	P Values	Decision
H1	Attitude → Intention	0.102	1.961	0.050	Not Supported
H2	Subjective Norm → Intention	0.482	9.970	0.000*	Supported

Note: * Significant at p < 0.05.

Figure 2. Structural Model (Outer Model)

Table 10. Consumption patterns between socioeconomic groups (N = 329)

Consumer Groups	Total		B40		Non-B40
	n	(%)	n	(%)	n	(%)
Regular (every day or at least once a week)	145	44.0	78	39.8	67	50.8
Occasional (during fasting month)	85	26.0	52	26.5	33	25.0
Non-consumer (once a year)	98	30.0	66	33.7	32	24.2

Table 11. Willingness to pay by group

Types of Dates	Overall			B40				Non-B40
	<10%	Same price	>10%	<10%	Same price	>10%	<10%		Same price	>10%
Ajwa	56.6	26.7	4.3	54.3	25.4	2.5	59.8		28.8	6.8
Rotab	42.0	38.0	4.9	41.6	38.6	2.5	42.5		37.1	8.3
Mariami	29.8	25.2	4.9	48.8	23.9	2.5	52.3		27.3	8.3
Others	30.1	32.8	5.8	29.0	32.0	3.6	31.9		34.1	9.1