Consumer Confusion and Green Consumption Intentions from the Perspective of Food-Related Lifestyles on Organic Infant Milk Formulas

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear author/s, 

I found your manuscript interesting since it deals with an important topic and you were able to link this topic to sustainability and social-marketing. 

I have specific minor suggestions aimed to improve the methodological section and results in your paper. 

Specifically: 

-concerning cluster analysis you referred to the k-means algorithm (non-hierarchic approach to the clustering) and therefore the number of clusters was defined a-priori. I would like to see better justified in the paper the rationale of this choice, i.e. the reasons for which 3 clusters were selected. On the other hand, by using a hierarchic approach the definition of the cluster should be carried out a-posteriori and based on the dendrogram and/or some cutting measure (such as the Kalinski pseudo F measures). In this latter case, the methodology is more robust since it is driven by a methodological perspectives. In your case, the selection of k-means method must be justified from an applied perspective (as an example starting from the theoretical framework you selected). 

I believe this issue should be included in the paper in order to make readers aware of the choices carried out in the manuscript and therefore improving the replicability of your study. 

- Second issue concerns the sample used for carrying out the analysis. I believe this is a non-probabilistic sample and it can be used for exploratory surveys, but if possible I would add some comparisons with the reference population in order to understand if and to what extent some part of the women population has been studied and the phenomenon investigated.  

 

Author Response

Responses to Reviewer 1 is as following:

1. The more detail explanation of K-Mean cluster analysis has been improved in Result part Section 4.2.2. Page 9, Line 468-486).

2. This study used probabilistic sampling method, because the survey conducted to parent online forum, which mean that all the members have the same opportunity to be surveyed. However, when doing survey, we first screened the questionnaire that they have children or kids or will to have baby in the near time, and only them that can continue the survey.

For women respondents, we do not do specific discussion or investigation because this study more focus on different FRLs and consumers confusion and due to the lot of purposes of this study. However, we found that woman population is higher than men of the members who join the parent online consultation. Then, we suggest this topic and other demographic aspects for the future research to figured out this phenomenon.

Reviewer 2 Report

The reviewed paper is of scientific nature. The considerations conducted in the paper are focused on such categories as: green consumption, food-related  lifestyles, consumer confusion,  organic infant milk formulas.

The subject area discussed in the paper is topical and important. The structure of the paper is clear. The article, however, needs to be refined to be published.

Therefore, it is specifically recommended to:

- take into consideration other latest publications in the sphere of discussed subject matter and deepen the literature review and discussion,

- describe the limitations of conducted research and  to indicate the trends for further empirical research (as a separate part of article),

- develop the description of the managerial implications in the article.

 

 

Author Response

Responses to Reviewer 2 are as following:

1.The latest publications as supporting papers for literature review and discussion have been improved.

2.The limitation of the study has been added in the conclusion (page 15, line 706-711).

3.The implication of the study has been added in the discussion part (Line 668-680).

Reviewer 3 Report

This is an interesting topic but the paper needs substantial editing. Numerous issues must be dealt with

a) there is inadequate disc ussion of the context of the paper - why is this significant and what are the issues that surround baby formula in Taiwan and the Chinese media, e.g. to what extent have some of the issue in mainland China been covered in Taiwan?

b) what is the legal situation regarding use of the term organic in Taiwan nd what is the preexisting extent of organic consumption?

c) the paper focuses on green marketing but there are numerous cognate terms such as environmental marketing and sustainable marketing - why isn't this literature considered and discussed?

d) the paper uses a specific online sub-population - how representative is it?

e) what were the ethical clearances and protocols used for the survey?

Author Response

Responses to Reviewer 3 are as following:

1. The Melamine infant milk powder contamination in China in 2008 significantly influenced the infant milk consumption and marketing in Taiwan because these countries are close and some materials of infant milk powder were imported from China. The more detail information has been improved in Introduction part (Line 45-64).
2. The information of legal situation regarding use of the term organic in Taiwan have been added in Introduction part (Line 65-72).
3. This topic has been added in Literature Review (Section 2.1.3) and discussion.
4. The information about this comment has been added in Chapter Methodology (Section 3.2.)
5. In the survey, we first asked their willingness to fill the questionnaire form, and we provide information and the context and purpose of the study. During the survey, we did not ask the name of the respondents and their sensitive private information.

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Thank you for your efforts in reviewing the paper. The quality of the paper has improved substantially. However, the contextualisation within the marketing literature is still weak while the sustainability marketing section that has been added is poor. The literature still does not adequately contextualise the study strongly enough. You need to be overtly linking between concerns of sustainability and green marketing with your specific topic more in order that the contribution is clear.

 

The English still has numerous mistakes in it.

Author Response

 

1. The contextualisation within the marketing literature and the sustainability marketing section have been revised.

2. The literature  for linking between concerns of sustainability and green marketing with the specific topic are more discussed in the section.