소비자의 식품안전 체감 및 역량척도 개발 연구

Abstract

Today's consumers confront various risks in everyday life and safety issues related to food becomes one of the major issues for consumers as food-borne illnesses and diseases increases. Since 2000, Korean consumers have had great interests in well-being and among the various aspects of well-being, physical and psychological well-being have been in the major focus of consumer lifestyle. As such consumers' interests with food safety have been dramatically increased and leaded dramatic growth in organic food industry. Recently, many food-related scandals and accidents have occurred and these scandals heighten consumers' needs for better food safety. To gauge a society's overall level of food safety, a comprehensive approach should be adopted. So far in the literature food safety has been studied with limited scope and coverage. Consumers' food safety orientation includes two distinct components: perceived food safety and food safety competency. Consumers' perceived food safety is a key component to gauge consumers' food safety orientation because it relates to consumers' basic attitudes about food issue. However, without proper knowledge and practice consumers' could not enjoy desirable level of food safety therefore, consumers' competency is also very important. Consumers' perceived food safety refers to the level of consumers perception about food safety and it includes consumers' awareness and evaluation about food issues. Previous research on perceived food safety have examined about five subject areas of food safety issues: consumers general perception about food safety, food safety issues with production and retailing, food safety policy and administration, food safety information and education, food labeling issues, and food safety concerns. Consumers' food safety competency refers to the knowledge, attitudes, and practice to manage food related task to achieve desired levels of food safety. Consumers' food safety competency sub-constructs (i.e., knowledge, attitudes, and practice) have been studies with various consumer groups on several food categories. The purpose of this research was to develop consumers' perceived food safety measurement and food safety competency measurement to properly gauge consumers' food safety orientation of a society. The measurement will be used to further develop an index of consumer food safety orientation. To develop consumers' perceived food safety measurement and food safety competency measurement, this research utilized expert reviews, delphi study, and test-retest analyses. First, a list of sample measurement items were gathered based on a comprehensive literature review. Specifically total of 54 questions in eight sub-constructs of perceived food safety were selected from literature to get experts review. The eight sub-constructs include overall food safety perception, food production safety, food safety policy and administration, food safety information, food safety threats, food safety concerns, trustworthiness of food labeling, and food safety education. For candidates of food safety competency measurement, total of 49 questions on food safety knowledge, food safety significance, safe cooking procedure, hand washing methods in handling food, interests in food safety, food safety threats, food purchasing behavior, food safety education, and concerns about food safety were selected. These questions were sent to three experts in the area to initial reviews and evaluation. Based on the experts' review each measurement sub-constructs were reorganized. Three sub- constructs(food safety policy and administration, food safety information and food safety education) from the perceived food safety have been deleted and several individual questions have been modified before the Delphi study. From the initial list of food safety competency, a new and different sub-constructs of knowledge, attitudes, and practice were formed and forwarded to the Delphi study. The Delphi study was conducted with 19 experts in the fields and the two measurements were reviewed, modified, and reorganized. Total of 35 questions in 5 sub-constructs for perceived food safety and 35 questions in 3 sub-constructs for food safety components were included in a consumer questionnaire for test, re-test reliability test. Consumer data was gathered through online survey from 300 participants with 1 week time span between test and re-test. The survey data was analyzed using correlation test, reliability test, exploratory factor analyses, and confirmatory factor analyses. Further modifications of the measurement were applied to the measurement based on the reliability and correlation tests. The factor analyses results showed desirable levels of reliability and validity of the measurement. The final measurement of perceived food safety includes 35 questions on five sub- constructs of overall food safety perception, safety in food production and retailing, food safety threats, concerns with food safety, and trustworthiness of food labeling. The final measurement of food safety competency includes 35 questions on consumer knowledge, attitudes, and practices on food safety. The food safety practice includes examination on food condition, examination on food labeling, general food safety behavior, and food purchase behavior. The measurements that were developed from this research showed proper levels of validity and reliability. Therefore, these measurements can be used to gauge a society's level of consumer food safety orientation. Further development on food safety orientation index will be useful to push forward to better level of food safety and increased levels of consumer well-being.