| dc.description.abstract | Food is one of the basic needs to be satisfied
for the survival of a human being. "Functional Food” is
food and food components that may provide benefits
beyond basic nutrition, and it includes a wide variety of
foods and food components believed to improve health
and well-being of people which help to reduce the risk
of specific diseases. This paper investigates the influence
of antecedents (Customer knowledge, Necessity, Safety,
Confidence, Rewards) on consumer attitudes towards
functional food within the Sri Lankan context. It is
important for marketers to understand the attitudes
in relation to functional food so they can properly
implement in marketing strategies. In addition to the
main objective of identifying influence of antecedents on
consumer attitudes, the most influencing antecedent was
also established. Convenient sampling method was used
in collecting data from the respondents which consisted
of 280 respondents from Colombo district within the
age group of eighteen to sixty. Inferential statistics were
used analyse and interpret the data by Correlation and
Regression. Validity and reliability were tested for all the
measures. The results indicate that customer knowledge,
necessity and safety have a negative impact while
confidence and rewards has a positive impact on the
consumer attitude towards functional food. Rewards from
functional food were derived to be a crucial factor for the
consumer attitudes on functional food. These findings will
provide food processing organizations and policy planners
with valuable insights on consumer behaviour. | en_US |
