Index

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study the factors influencing Thai consumers’ purchase intentions of KU Phuphan Black-bone Chicken product in Sakon Nakhon Province by using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). KU Phuphan black-bone chicken is the rare chicken breed which is completely black inside and out despite its white feathers, developed by Thai researchers in Sakon Nakhon province and now was widely known as the economic animal. It was discovered that many previous studies conducted to focus on the genetics and nutrition; however, there was a lack of research concerning the marketing and consumer aspects. The quantitative research approach was adopted in this study. The research data was gathered using a questionnaire designed from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Using a total sample of 400 respondents who have recognized KU Phuphan Black-bone chicken product, a survey was developed and conducted in Sakon Nakhon province, Thailand. The results revealed that all three factors influenced consumers’ purchase intention. Attitude toward behavior and subjective norm had positively influenced on purchase intention. Consumers who had higher purchase intention of KU Phuphan Black-bone chicken product had significant higher attitudes about buying the product. In addition, an influence of subjective norm factor like parents, peers and media also played an important role in considering purchasing the product. Meanwhile, perceived behavior control factor such as availability of product and place to buy least influenced on purchase intention. Findings provided by this study will be helpful for marketers of KU Phuphan Black-bone Chicken product and others relevant to this business for planning, adapting and improving theirs related marketing activities.

Keywords: KU Phuphan black-bone chicken,Purchase intention,Attitudes,Subjective norm,Perceived behavior control ,Planned behavior.

Received: 3 February 2017/ Revised: 7 March 2017 / Accepted:28 March 2017/ Published: 10 April 2017

Contribution/ Originality

This study is one of very few studies which have investigated the marketing and consumer perspectives of KU Phuphan Black-bone chicken, the economic rare breed developed by Thai researchers. The results can be applied for developing marketing strategies which will benefit agricultural scenes in Thailand for the better and sustainable.


1. INTRODUCTION

Phuphan Black-bone chicken is one of the achievements from Phuphan Royal Development study center in Sakon Nakhon Province of Thailand which is the projects initiated by belated His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. This center aims to study and experiment appropriate agricultural techniques as models for farmers to use and apply for their own livelihood focused on Northeast region of Thailand. Phuphan black-bone chicken is the breed developed from imported black-bone chicken from China since 2002. According to sufficient economy philosophy of self-reliant or sustainable farming, Phuphan black-bone chicken breed was developed (Chaipattana Foundation, 2016). Phuphan black-bone chicken has its apparent characteristics; black skin, black bones, black feathers and nearly black flesh. Nowadays, it is the economic animal both in Sakon Nakhon province and other areas of Thailand as it is easy to raise, costs less feeding and makes more money three to four times than ordinary chickens (Phuphan Royal Development Study Center, 2012). In addition, most consumers also believe that black-bone chicken has medical properties. As a kind of healthy food and traditional Chinese medicine, it has been well known in the Orient and used to reinforce the immunity of human bodies, anemia, diabetes, metrorrhagia and sickness after giving birth for over a thousand years (Tu et al., 2009; Dorshorst et al., 2010). Research results from laboratory tests also show that Black-bone chicken contains many kinds of amino acids to reduce autistic disorder and mentions to its melanin and antioxidant property for anti-aging (Tian et al., 2007; Chen et al., 2008; Tu et al., 2009). Kasetsart University Chalermphrakiat Sakon Nakhon Province Campus (KU.CSC) foresees the important of this rare chicken and decided to develop its breeding to be more commercial in order to meet the demand of markets and serve as a new option for farmers. Under the Faculty of Natural Resources and Agro-Industry, Mr. Panuwat Khumpeerawat was assigned and took responsible of this development. The developed breed was named KU Phuphan Black-bone chicken and widely known around the country. The distinction is that it is black inside and out except the feathers that are white. Besides, it is suitable to raise in most areas of Thailand, lays much more eggs than ordinary black- bone chicken, costs 30% lower feeding and requires a shorter time for fully grown (Khumpeerawat, 2016). Now that the health consciousness still remains prevalent among consumers in 2016 and Thailand will become the aging society, by 2040, it is projected that 17 million Thais will be 65 years or older. Therefore, the healthy products like KU Phuphan black-bone chicken will be more required to satisfy the needs of consumers (World Bank, 2016). Not only in Thailand where the demand of black-bone chicken is increasing, but also other neighbour countries such as China and Vietnam. According to this, there is an opportunity for free movement of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken as Thailand now becomes the part of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Nevertheless, there is the intense competitive among consumer products as consumers have many choices. Therefore, to create sustainable competitive advantage, the marketing activities play an important role here. To satisfy the needs of consumers requires the understanding of many marketing aspects. It was discovered that there were many previous studies conducted to focus on the genetics and nutrition. However, there was a lack of research concerning the marketing and consumer aspects. Consumer’s purchase decision depends on many factors; intention to do that behavior is one of them. As stated above, the researcher decided to study the purchase intention of consumers towards KU Phuphan black-bone chicken. In addition, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used in this study to explain the individual’s intention as it stated that individual behavior is driven by behavior intentions, where behavior intentions are a function of three determinants; an individual’s attitude toward behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control (Ajzen, 1991). The researcher strongly believes that the results of this study will be helpful for entrepreneurs and marketers related to KU Phuphan black-bone chicken businesses for applying, improving, and adapting their related marketing activities in order to approach consumers effectively. These results could also be applied to promote marketing activities for other black-bone chicken breeds to some extents. As Thailand is an agricultural country, this research could lead to the better and sustainable development for farmers who play vital role in agricultural and economic scenes of the country.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Background of KU Phuphan Black-Bone Chicken

Black-bone chicken is originated in Outer Mongolia and China. It has been well known in Asia and used to reinforce the immunity of human bodies, to prevent emaciation and feebleness, to treat diabetes and anemia, and to cure women’s diseases like menoxenia and postpartum complications. Many people have accepted and enjoyed the black-bone chicken as a healthy food (Tian et al., 2007). KU Phuphan black-bone chicken was developed from nationwide black-bone chicken breeds in Thailand. The researcher found out the Mongolian breed, which is well-known among farmers, is the suitable choice for breeding as it outgrows and has bigger body structure than ordinary black-bone chicken. The process began by collecting all breeds since 2013 and starting from 35 male chicken breeders and 175 female chicken breeders, getting artificial insemination with 5:1 ratio (male : female) and collecting data for evaluation. Now the development process of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken is at the F3 level and according to the theory of animal breeding, it has to be at F5 level which requires 2-3 years spending time. Common people realize that black- bone chicken has to be all black, but in reality KU Phuphan black-bone chicken has white feathers. The real characteristics of black-bone chicken can be identified from skin, meat, and bone, all have to be black. Feeding and taking care of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken were tested in the real environment by raising normally with other chicken breeds, and it was found that the KU Phuphan black-bone chicken got better environmental resistance and was easy to raise like domestic chickens. Male chicken breeders are ready to breed since 6-8 months old while female chicken breeders lay eggs at 6-8 months old as well. To feed KU Phuphan black-bone chicken in order to be ready for serving market took 10 weeks to meet the market needs at the average weight of 1.2 kilograms. It required less time than ordinary chicken breeds which took 16 weeks (Khumpeerawat, 2016).

2.2. The Market Situation of KU Phuphan Black-Bone Chicken in Sakon Nakhon Province

Normally, KU Phuphan black-bone chicken commercial farming can be divided into two types that are feeding for an ornamental chicken breed and feeding for consumption. For ornamental chicken breed market, with no focus on quantity and only focus on consumer’s needs of beautiful appearance, the price can be high. For example, one male breeder is around 1,500-2,000 Baht while a female breeder is around 800-1,200 Baht or the price can be higher up to 3,000 Baht per one pair. For consumption market, KU Phuphan black-bone chicken meat is 180-250 Baht per kilogram with average cost at 60-70 Baht (Khumpeerawat, 2016). Nowadays, KU Phuphan black-bone chicken is widely known among poultry industry in Thailand. There is a chance for market expansion both in Thailand as well as international markets because Thailand became the member of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) since 2015 which allows free movement of goods and labor. Not only limited to Thai market that healthy consumption trend is popular but also in AEC countries. Healthy food market of Thailand has grown 6% in 2015 and has strong potential to grow in the future (Kasikorn Research Center, 2015). Meanwhile chicken meat market of Thailand is also acknowledged by other countries in AEC (Nualtem, 2015). Therefore, AEC countries will be the good export markets for KU Phuphan black-bone chicken especially Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. Nowadays, as a product, people consume two types of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken products which are chicken meat for cooking and processed products like chili sauce, sausage, capsule chicken soup etc.

2.3. Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)

TPB is an extension of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) Ajzen and Fishbein (1970) due to the limitations of TRA model in dealing with behaviors. TRA formulates that attitudes and subjective norms determine an individual’s intentions to perform a given behavior and intentions to perform behavior relate to actual behavior. TRA has provided strong support for predicting volitional behaviors that are not purely under an individual’s volitional control (Ajzen, 1991). Thus, TPB suggests that behavior is predicted by intentions to perform that behavior with the addition of perceived behavioral control (Ajzen, 1991). Predicting behavior is the ultimate goal of TPB, same as TRA, both theories only predict behavior but do not explain the behavior (Conner and Sparks, 2005). However, Ajzen (1991)  has believed that individual behavior is driven by behavior intentions, that person’s intention is the most important of a specific behavior. According to Ajzen (1985) behavior intentions are a function of three determinants: an individual’s attitude toward behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Attitude toward behavior refers to a positive and negative evaluation of performing the behavior of interest. There are many studies support the positive relationship between consumers’ attitudes and behavioral intentions for green purchasing in different cultures, such as Asian, US, and European (Hee and Jae, 2011). Subjective norms simply refer to the perceiving social pressure to perform or not to perform that behavior. Parents, peers, influencers and Medias could be the person who is involved in acting as social pressure (Rahman, 2013). Perceived behavioral control is the final factor to predict the person’s behavior. It refers to a person’s perception of how an easy or difficult performance of the behavior is likely to be. According to Ajzen (1991) and Ajzen and Fishbein (2005) the more resources, opportunities, and confidence a person feels they have about performing the behavior, and fewer obstacles they anticipate, the greater should be their perceived behavior control over the behavior.

Ajzen (2015) claimed TPB is today one of the most popular social-psychological models for understanding and predicting human behavior. This theory has also received new awareness, especially in the area of consumer behavior and health (Barua and Islam, 2011). Plus TPB has also been the basis for several studies on consumer food choices (Conner and Sparks, 1996). In conclusion, if the planned behaviors of interest are identified, you can also predict the intention of that behavior as well.

2.4. Purchase Intention

Purchase intention refers to a preference of consumers to buy product/service because they find that they need a particular product/service or even attitude towards the product and perception of the product. Purchase intention could reflect consumer’s purchase behavior (Zeithaml et al., 1990). Recommending others to buy can also become a measurement of purchase intention (Maria et al., 2014). Based on the above literature, purchase intention covers several essential meanings: (1) consumers’ willingness to consider buying; (2) buying intention in the future; (3) decision of repurchase. However, even it was widely accepted that the person’s intention could predict the behavior; there are other components which may affect to the changing of person’s intention (Jaccard, 1975).

In conclusion, the main objective of this study is to examine the antecedents of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken purchasing intention using the TPB. Farming and livestock are one of the most important issues not only in Sakon Nakhon province but also nationwide. The empirical finding of consumers’ current potential purchasing behavior will reveal the factors that encourage KU Phuphan black-bone chicken purchasing. In the present business and marketing aspects in Sakon Nakhon, this study seeks to examine the consumers’ KU Phuphan black-bone chicken purchasing intention in order to predict the purchase behavior. The greater understanding thoroughly about consumers, the better strategies people in poultry industry could apply for their related marketing activities. Therefore, the broad research question is:

RQ: What factors determine the likelihood of purchasing KU Phuphan black-bone chicken by consumers in Sakon Nakhon province?

3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Based on the above literature review, this research concentrates on the conceptual framework of consumer’s purchase intention by using TPB model. This framework emphasizes variables based on Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) like attitude toward behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavior control. These independent variables are related to the consumer’s purchase intention on KU Phuphan black-bone chicken product. The conceptual framework is given below in figure 1:

Figure-1. Research Model

Source: Adopted from Ajzen (1985)

To examine the relationship between the independent variables (attitude toward behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control) and the dependent variable (behavioral intention in purchasing KU Phuphan black-bone chicken), three hypotheses were developed. The direction of each hypothesis is obtained from the past researches which were conducted on the basis of TPB. Therefore, this study has to find out whether there is a direct positive relationship between attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intention.

Attitude is the evaluation of performing a particular behavior involving the attitude object, such  as  buying  the  product (Blackwell et al., 2006).  In addition,  the  relative  importance  of   attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control in the prediction of intention is expected to vary across behaviors and situations (Ajzen, 1991). According to the Shah and Mohamed (2011) the research found out that all three factors of TPB had the positive and significant influence on halal food purchase intention in Malaysia. Attitude toward a behavior was determined by the total set of accessible behavioral beliefs linking the behavior to various outcomes and other attributes. From this, it can be considered that attitudes play an important part to predict person’s behavior intention. Therefore, the following hypothesis needs to be substantiated:

H1: Attitude towards behavior has positive and significant relationship on purchase intention of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken product

The predictor social factor termed subjective norm is the perceived social pressure to comply with expectations about engaging in the behavior which should influence the individual’s intention to perform or not to the behavior. If social expectations are that people should perform the behavior in question, then the individual should be more likely to do so. As Thai consumers are now more conscious about healthy food/products and they want to know about that product before they purchase. Moreover, family, friends, and media play an important part in people social life. Those people (parents, friends, influencers and media) who are closely surrounding to a person might be  the creator of social pressure to perform a certain behavior by that particular person (Ajzen, 2005). So, this encourages developing the hypothesis.

H2: Subjective norms has positive and significant relationship on purchase    intention of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken product

According to Ajzen (1991) perceived behavioral control is the extent to which a person feels that he/she is able to engage in the behavior. It has two aspects: how much a person has control over behavior and how confident a person feels about being able to perform or not perform the behavior. The more the control an individual feels about making KU Phuphan black-bone chicken purchases, the more likely consumer will be to do so. In this study, perceived behavioral control is the ease or difficulty to purchase KU Phuphan black-bone chicken. Therefore, the hypothesis is:

H3: Perceived behavioral control has positive and significant relationship on purchase intention of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken product

4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY SAMPLING AND PROCEDURE

Data of this research were gathered by primary data collection method. A total of 400 respondents took part of this study. The quantitative data were collected through questionnaires which were handed out to a sample of 400 people. The analyzed data allowed us to answer the research questions. The population of this research is in Sakon Nakhon province, Thailand as Sakon Nakhon is considered as the biggest source of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken production.

To increase the accuracy of the results, researcher designed the control variable that respondents must have perceived/recognized KU Phuphan black-bone chicken because researcher believes that those who have the perception about the product are able to evaluate the attitude towards behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. Therefore, the population of this research is all people who have the perception of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken in Sakon Nakhon province.

To determine the sample size, this study relies on the theory in Gravetter and Forzano (2009) ’s study, as mentioned that, the law of large number means the bigger the sample is, the more accurately it will represent the population. But there is also a practical limit to the number of individuals it is reasonable to use in a research study. Although a sample size of 25-30 individuals for each treatment condition is a good target, other considerations may make this sample size unreasonably large or small. Therefore, it is also reasonable to settle for samples of only 10-12 in each condition (Gravetter and Forzano, 2009). The measurement items of this study are 22 variables, given that 15 individuals each variable are reasonable so that the sample size requires 330 respondents. However, researcher adopted 400 respondents which are 18 times of variables.

Choosing samples for this study, firstly, researcher adopted stratified random sampling technique which is a random sample from identifiable groups (Black, 1999). In this case, researcher divided the population into groups by districts of the Sakon Nakhon province. Sakon Nakhon province consists of 18 districts and the number of samples was defined based on a proportion of population in each district. Secondly, researcher adopted Quota sampling technique using gender, male and female, as criteria; 50% each. Lastly, using convenient sampling technique was adopted for asking respondents to fill the questionnaire.

As the researcher wants to study the impact of the independent variables which are attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control toward consumers’ purchase intention of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken, as well as analyzing which among the independent variable that has the most significant influence on consumers’ intention to purchase. Therefore, the researcher used multiple linear regression analysis by SPSS statistical program. The researcher also conducted reliability and validity tests on all variables in order to measure the used instrument whether it is reliable and valid or not. After passing the reliability and validity tests, the data is processed further using descriptive analysis, frequencies to identify the profile of the respondents before using multiple linear regression analysis. Finally, stepwise multiple linear regression tests were developed in which the choice of predictive variables is carried out by an automatic procedure (Draper and Smith, 1981).

The Research Instrument, the questionnaire, was designed according to the Theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991); it consists of three sections. The first section comprised questions about the personal information questions using Nominal and Ordinal scale. The second and third sections aim to measure the attitude towards behavior, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and purchase intention. All items intended to measure the variables in this study were adopted from Ajzen (2006); Ajzen (2013) modified so that the focus was on the KU Phuphan black-bone chicken purchasing. Measuring of attitude towards behavior (eight items), subjective norms (six items), perceived behavioral control (four items) and purchase intention (four items) were measured using interval scale. All questions  were collected with a five-point Likert scale ranging from “completely disagree” as 1 to “completely agree” as 5. In order to check the internal consistency of the measure, the Cronbach’s alphas were calculated with pre-test of 50 respondents. Table I reveals reliabilities are satisfactory as Cronbach’s alphas exceed 0.70 (Nunnally, 1978).

Table-1. Cronbach’s alphas Results

variables
items
Reliability Alpha
Cronbach’s
Attitudes toward behavior
8
.844
Subjective norms
6
.861
Perceived behavioral contro
4
.913
Purchase intention of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken
4
.866

N = 50

5. RESEARCH FINDINGS DESCRIPTIVE OF THE SAMPLE

The age of the samples varied from under 20 to more than 50 years old but most of the respondents are 20-25 years old which is 42.8%. They are mostly university students with 48.5%, self- employed and government officers with 17.8% and 15.8% respectively. From all respondents, about half of them have tried the KU Phuphan black-bone chicken which is 49.8%. Among those who have tried KU Phuphan black-bone chicken, 80.4% of them tried its chicken meat and only 19.6% tried the processed products. Regardless of only half of the respondents have tried KU Phuphan black-bone chicken, the majority of the respondents had positive attitudes towards purchasing and expressed intention to buy KU Phuphan black-bone chicken in the future.

5.1. Hypotheses Testing

Hypotheses were tested by using stepwise multiple linear regressions. Table 2 presents results of stepwise multiple regressions used to evaluate the strength of the proposed relationship (H1-H3).

Table-2. Stepwise multiple linear regressions results

Variables
R
R Square
Adjusted R Square
Std. Error of the Estimate
p
Model 3
0.780
0.608
0.605
0.53044
0.00*

Significant at the .05 level

c. Predictors: (Constant), Attitudes toward behavior, Subjective norms, Perceived behavior control

From Table 2, it shows the overall correlation between independent and dependent variables. The result of Adjusted R square can explain the variance contribution of the dependent variables. With all three variables, 60.5% of the variance was accounted for. The data analysis shows that Adjusted R square value gives to an acceptable result. Plus, it shows that research model had the overall statistically significant result (p < 0.05).

Table-3. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis for predicting purchase intention

Variables
Unstandardized Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t
Sig.
 
B
Std. Error
Beta
Constant
0.229
0.179
1.280
0.201
Attitudes toward behavior (X1)
0.424
0.052
0.375
8.181
0.000
Subjective norms (X2)
0.323
0.038
0.382
8.552
0.000
Perceived behavioral control (X3)
0.165
0.063
0.121
2.611
0.009

Dependent variable: Purchase intention (Y)

This table shows the Beta value where all three independent variables have contributed on dependent variable (see Table 3). Attitudes toward behavior show the highest contribution among the three variables (β= 0.424, Sig. = 0.000). Followed by subjective norm and perceived behavioral control which have (β = 0.323, Sig. = 0.000) and (β = 0.165, Sig. = 0.009) respectively. This Table gives beta coefficients so that the researcher can construct the regression equation based on the weights of each variable.

From the above mentioned research finding, it can explain that attitudes toward behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control have a positive relation to purchasing intention and also can predict the purchase intention of consumers at the significant level 0.05. With coefficient of determination at 60.5% and exhibit the multiple linear regression equation that includes three variables to predict the consumer’s purchase intention of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken, the regression equation would be:

Y = 0.229+0.424X1+0.323X2+0.165X3

To test the hypotheses, from this research analysis finding, researcher can also explain that the hypotheses are projected for this research has been accepted (see Table 4).

Table-4. Summary of Hypotheses testing result

Hypotheses Result
Attitude towards behavior has positive and significant relationship on purchase intention of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken product Accepted
Subjective norms has positive and significant relationship on purchase intention of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken product Accepted
Perceived behavioral control has positive and significant relationship on purchase intention of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken product Accepted

Source: Result from the study

6. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

The main objective of this study is to explore what factors influence consumers’ purchase intention KU Phuphan black-bone chicken in Sakon Nakhon province using TPB theory as a framework. The study results show that the TPB model could explain 60.5% of the variance in the purchase intention of KU Phuphan black-bone chicken. The model was statistically significant. There are other studies that have also successfully used the TPB as a theoretical framework to explore the purchase intention. The study reveals that attitudes toward behavior have a significant and positive effect on KU Phuphan black-bone chicken purchase intention as those who have high positive attitudes appeared to have better intentions to purchase this black-bone chicken. Subjective norms such as parents, friends and influencers also have significant and positive effect to purchase intentions as well. Plus, perceived behavioral controls, product availability and place to buy have least effects to purchase intention.

Compatible with the study of Shah and Mohamed (2011) the research found out that all factors based on TPB model have positive and significant influences on halal food purchasing intention in Malaysia. In collectivistic cultures such as Muslim culture, people tend to perceive themselves as interdependent with their group rather than an independent goal so that, subjective norm is an important factor. This is also consistent with the finding of this research that subjective norm is also important in influencing consumer’s purchase intention in Sakon Nakhon, Thailand, a collectivist country. However, in contrast with the study by Boonsupa (2011) the study found that attitudes toward behavior influences consumer’s purchase intention of instant frozen foods from convenient store (7-11) in Bangkok, while subjective norms and perceived behavioral control did not have an impact on consumer’s purchase intention. It could be explained that it is because products are different. As KU Phuphan black-bone chicken is kind of high involvement product; healthy food with medicine properties and is also quite expensive compared to ordinary chicken, consumers put attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control into consideration. On the other hand, instant frozen foods at the convenient store (7-11) are products which are more likely low involvement product; easy to buy and obtain, so that subjective norms and perceived behavioral control have not affected their purchase intention. Results of the current study also have significant practical implications for businesses marketing of black-bone chicken, especially KU Phuphan black-bone chicken both chicken meat and processed products. Since the results of this study can clearly answer the research question, marketers would benefit from adopting these findings into their marketing strategies in order to better target consumers. The findings of this study suggest that creating a positive attitude, using social pressure like parents, friends or influencers and provide the situation where it is easy for consumers to purchase KU Phuphan black-bone chicken may be a significant consideration for marketers/retailers to increase their purchase intention.

7. LIMITATION AND FUTURE RESEARCHS

The sample size is relatively small as it is only focused in Sakon Nakhon province. The study can be strengthened by increasing the sample size and including participants in other geographical areas nationwide. This study also considered only three variables which influence purchasing KU Phuphan black-bone chicken. There are other possible correlations between other independent variables such as other beliefs, habit, revenue etc. that need to explore in a future study. As KU Phuphan black-bone chicken is an economic animal and has a potential for market expansion, more research is needed to investigate undiscovered issues.

Funding: This study received no specific financial support.

Competing Interests: The author declares that there are no conflicts of interests regarding the publication of this paper.

REFERENCES

Ajzen, I., 1985. From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In Kuhl J.& Beckman J. (Eds.), Action-control: From Cognition to behavior. New York: Springer-Verlag. pp: 11- 39.

Ajzen, I., 1991. Theory of planned behavior. Organization Behavior and Human Decision Process, 50(2): 179-211. View at Google Scholar 

Ajzen, I., 2005. Attitudes, personality, and behavior. UK: McGraw-Hill Education

Ajzen, I., 2006. Constructing a theory of planned behavior questionnaire. Retrieved from http://people.umass.edu/~aizen/pdf/tpb.measurement.pdf [Accessed March, 2016].

Ajzen, I., 2013. Theory of planned behaviour questionnaire. Measurement Instrument Database for the Social Science. Retrieved from http://www.midss.org/sites/default/files/tpb.construction.pdf [Accessed March, 2016].

Ajzen, I., 2015. Consumer attitudes and behavior: The theory of planned behavior applied to food consumption decisions. Rivista di Economia Agraria, 70(2): 121-138. View at Google Scholar 

Ajzen, I. and M. Fishbein, 1970. The prediction of behavior from attitudinal and normative variables. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 6(4): 466-487. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher

Ajzen, I. and M. Fishbein, 2005. The influence of attitudes on behavior. In D. Albarracin, B.T. Johnson, and M.P. Zanna (Eds.) The Handbook of Attitudes and Attitude Change: Basic Principles. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. pp: 173-221.

Barua, P. and M. Islam, 2011. Young consumers’ purchase intentions of buying green products: A study based on the theory of planned behavior. (Master’s Thesis). Umeå University, Umeå School of Business. Retrieved from http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:427264/FULLTEXT02.pdf .

Black, T.R., 1999. Doing quantitative research in the social sciences: An integrated approach to research design, measurement and statistics. London: Sage.

Blackwell, R.D., W.M. Paul and F.E. James, 2006. Attributes of attitudes. Consumer behavior. New York: Thomson Press. pp: 235-243.

Boonsupa, S., 2011. Factors influencing consumer’s purchase intention of instant frozen foods from convenient store (7-11) in Bangkok based on theory of planned behavior (TPB). (Master’s Thesis). Bangkok Univerisity, School of Business Administration.

Chaipattana Foundation, 2016. Philosophy of sufficiency economy. Retrieved from http://www.chaipat.or.th/chaipat_english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4103&Itemid=293 [Accessed July, 2016].

Chen, S.R., B. Jiang, J.X. Zheng, G.Y. Xu, J.Y. Li and N. Yang, 2008. Isolation and characterization of natural melanin derived from silky fowl (Gallus Gallus Domesticus Brisson). Food Chemistry, 111(3): 745-749. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher

Conner, M. and P. Sparks, 1996. The theory of planned behaviour and health behaviours. In Conner, M. and Norman, P. (Eds), Predicting health behaviour. Buckingham: Open University Press. pp: 121-62.

Conner, M. and P. Sparks, 2005. The theory of planned behavior. In M. Conner, & P. Norman (Eds.), Predicting health behaviour: Research and practice with social cognition models. Buckingham: Open University Press. pp: 121- 162.

Dorshorst, B., R. Okimoto and C. Ashwell, 2010. Genomic regions associated with dermal hyperpigmentation, polydactyly and other morphological traits in the silkie chicken. Journal of Heredity, 101(3): 339–350. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher

Draper, N. and H. Smith, 1981. Applied regression analysis. 2nd Edn., New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Gravetter, F.J. and L.A.B. Forzano, 2009. Research methods for the behavioral sciences. 3rd Edn., Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Hee, Y.K. and E.C. Jae, 2011. Consumer purchase intention for organic personal care products. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 28(1): 40-47. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher

Jaccard, J., 1975. A theoretical analysis of selected factors important to health education strategies. Health Education & Behavior, 3(2): 152-167. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher

Kasikorn Research Center, 2015. Food and beverage. Retrieved from http://www.kasikornbank.com/SME/Documents/KSMEAnalysis/IndustrySolution_FoodsAndBeverages_2015.pdf [Accessed August, 2016].

Khumpeerawat, P., 2016. Lecturer, Kasetsart University Chalermphrakiat Sakon Nakhon Province Campus. (2016, August 4). Personal Communication.  [Accessed August 4, 2016].

Maria, C.L.S., K.H. Rüdiger and S. Rabino, 2014. Intentions to use and recommend to others: An empirical study of online banking practices in Portugal and Austria. Online Information Review, 38(2): 186-208. View at Google Scholar 

Nualtem, M., 2015. Future of Thai chicken meat in AEC. Retrieved from http://tpso.moc.go.th/th/node/390 [Accessed September, 2016].

Nunnally, J., 1978. Psychometric methods. New York: McGraw-Hill

Phuphan Royal Development Study Center, 2012. Manual 3: Feeding Phuphan black-bone chicken. Retrieved from http://royal.rid.go.th/phuphan/KMnewn/19%20MENU%20(new)/19-3.pdf [Accessed March, 2016].

Rahman, M., 2013. Green products: A study on young & native Swedish consumers’ purchase intentions of green products. (Master’s Thesis). Umeå University, Umeå School of Business and Economics (USBE).

Shah, A.S. and S.N. Mohamed, 2011. Applying the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in halal food purchasing. International Journal of Commerce and Management, 21(1): 8-20. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher

Tian, Y., M. Xie, W. Wang, H. Wu, Z. Fu and L. Lin, 2007. Determination of carnosine in Black-Bone Silky Fowl (Gallus Gallus Domesticus Brisson) and common chicken by HPLC. European Food Research and Technology, 226(1-2): 311–314. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher

Tu, Y.G., Y.Z. Sun, Y.G. Tian, M.Y. Xie and J. Chen, 2009. Physicochemical characterisation and antioxidant activity of melanin from the muscles of Taihe black-bone silky fowl (Gallus Gallus Domesticus Brisson). Food Chemistry, 114(4): 1345-1350. View at Google Scholar | View at Publisher

World Bank, 2016. Thailand economic monitor - June 2016: Aging society and economy. Retrieved from http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/thailand/publication/thailand-economic-monitor-june-2016-aging-society-and-economy [Accessed October, 2016].

Zeithaml, V.A., A. Parasuraman and L.L. Berry, 1990. Delivering quality service: Balancing customer perceptions and expectations. New York: Free Press.

Views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the author(s), International Journal of Management and Sustainability shall not be responsible or answerable for any loss, damage or liability etc. caused in relation to/arising out of the use of the content.