A survey in United Kingdom on public attitude towards tropical timbers showed negative disposition

towards tropical hardwoods and wood products. Those considering buying tropical wood products would do

so if it was competitively priced, not treated with chemicals or manufactured from timber species known to

them. Tropical wood products may not fare better in the future due to greater awareness of environment

quality. The survey results revealed that males and those from higher incomes groups unlike the others were

willing to purchase tropical hardwood, especially if it was from substainable forests

Abd. Ghani, Awang Noor

Mohamed, Shukri

Yacob, Mohd Rusli

Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository

PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 4(1): 95-100 (1996)ISSN: 0128-7702© Penerbit Universiti Pertanian MalaysiaConsut11er Attitude Towards Tropical Hardwoods in the United Kingdot11SHUKRI MOHAMED, RUSLI MOHD and AWANG OR ABDUL GHANIDepartment of Forest ManagementFaculty of ForestryU niversiti Pertanian Malaysia43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, MalaysiaKeywords: conSUIIler, attitude, tropical hardwoodsABSTRAKPenyelidikan keatas sikap orang awam di UK terhadap kayu tropika te1ah dijalankan. Ia juga bertujuanuntuk menentukan samada sifat spesis kayu penting kepada pengguna untuk membuat keputusan pembe1ianbarangan kayu serta mengenalpasti sifat keluaran yang diperlukan jika mereka akan membe1i ke1uarandiperbuat dari kayu tropika. Pada amnya, pengguna di UK mempunyai sikap dingin terhadap kayutropika. Mereka yang bercadang untuk membe1i ke1uaran kayu tropika akan berbuat demikian sekiranyaharga keluaran itu setanding, tidak diawet dan diperbuat dari spesis kayu yang dikenali. Ke1uaran kayutropika mungkin tidak akan dapat bertahan lama memandangkan kepada sikap dingin pengguna terhadapkayu tropika dan spesis kayu merupakan sifat penting yang diambilkira oleh mereka untuk membuatkeputusan pembelian. Pemasar ke1uaran kayu tropika boleh menggunakan strategi peluang pasaranmemandangkan terdapat segmen yang mempunyai sikap positif terhadap kayu tropika terutamanya kaumle1aki dan mereka dari golongan isirumah berpendapatan tinggi. Penyelesaian kepada masalah sikap dinginpengguna ini ialah dengan memasarkan keluaran kayu tropika dari sumber yang terurus.ABSTRACTA survey in United Kingdom on public attitude towards tropical timbers showed negative dispositiontowards tropical hardwoods and wood products. Those considering buying tropical wood products would doso if it was competitively priced, not treated with chemicals or manufactured from timber species known tothem. Tropical wood products may not fare better in the future due to greater awareness of environmentquality. The survey results revealed that males and those from higher incomes groups unlike the others werewilling to purchase tropical hardwood, especially if it was from substainable forests.INTRODUCTIONThere is currently a deep and widespreadpublic concern about the quality of theenvironment in the major tropical hard-wood-importing countries. Deforestation inthe tropical region has been cited to be one ofthe major causes of the environmental degra-dation and the commercial tropical rainforestlogging is said to be the major activity thatresults in a chain of events leading to thedegradation of the environment the world iscurrently facing. To many, one of the ways tocheck global environmental degradation is tostop commercial logging in the tropics.Reducing demand for tropical hardwoodswill stop this commercial logging. Ban onthe trade of tropical hardwoods and 'eco-labelling' of tropical wood products are ameans of pressuring the tropical hardwood-exporting countries to stop 'destroying' theirforest resources and help improve the world'senvironment. Many governments in theEuropean coun tries have stopped usingtropical hardwoods in their building pro-grammes as a result of pressure from theconservationists. Consumers, are urged todemand for wood products manufacturedfrom timbers other than the supposedlyenvironmental-degrading tropical hard-woods.Shukri Mohamed, Rusli Mohd and Awang Nor Abdul Ghanibutes required by the consumers.TABLE 1Demographics of the respondentsS2Frequency (%)(N = 144)MATERIALS AND METHODSThe data was collected using structured, self-administered questionnaires. Based on a pur-posive sampling method, university studentswere asked to distribute the questionaires totheir friends and neighbours above the age of19 years in their hometown during a mid-semester break. Customers in UK are usuallyabove 19 years. It was hoped that thestudents from the diverse geographical re-gions would provide representatives for arealistic sample frame.The respondents were required to re-spond to each of the questions in the question-naire. The attitude of the consumers towardstropical hardwoods was measured using anattitude scale which consist of a series of sixsentences regarding tropical hardwoods. Therespondents were required to indicate theirintensity of feeling towards the object by sta-ting their agreement or disagreement to thesesentences. Each answer was given a score andthe respondent's total score was used as ameasure of his or her attitude towardstropical hardwoods. A negative total scoremeant that the respondent had an unfavour-able attitude, while those with a positive totalscore had a positive disposition. Semanticdifferential scaling was used, with respect tothe answers, in particular the Likert sum-mated scale. A total of 144 valid question-CharacteristicSex:MaleFemale 48Age:Young (19 - 24 years) 40Middle (2S - 39 years) 31Old (40 years and over) 29Household income:Low (under {lO,OOO annually) 41Middle ({I 0,000 - {l9,999 annually) 29High (over [20,000 annually) 30The United Kingdom is one of the majorimporters of tropical hardwoods and theirpublic are said to be less responsive to thevarious issues currently surrounding tropicalhardwoods than other tropical hardwood-importing European countries (Sullivan,1990; Anonymous, 1993a) and also they veryrarely enquire about the source of the timberitems (Anonymous, 1993b). Of importance tothem are the quali ty, price and design of theproducts, and not the the forest managementstatus of the product's origin (MORI, 1990).Imports of tropical hardwoods into UK havesince the early 1990s dropped as importershave switched to the perceived sustainablymanaged North Ame-rican hardwoods (Up-ton, 1993) amidst growing pressure from theenvironmentally-conscious consumers. Besidethe attributes of the product itself, a purcha-ser's decision is also influenced by other wide-ranging factors like his or her own economic"well-being", age and life style, occupation,social class and a myriad of other highlyinterrelated external and internal factors(Mercer, 1992). The major internal factors,which operate within individuals to partiallydetermine and influence their behaviour asconsumers, are perceptions, motives, learning,personality and attitudes (Pride and Ferrel,1977). An attitude, learned through experienceand interaction with others, consist of knowl-edge and positive or negative feelings held byan individual for an object. When a consumerhas a strong negative attitude towards anobject, he or she will not only avoid it but willalso try to influence others not to buy theproduct (ibid.). Also product attributes influ-ence product choice (Stureson and Sinclair,1991). There is, however, a lack of direct andpredictive relationship between attitudes andexternal behaviour but a survey of attitudeswill provide an indicator of the current beliefs,thoughts, preference and desires held bycertain communities (Baker, 1992).In light of the foregoing, a survey wasconducted to study public attitude towardswood in United Kingdom products madefrom tropical timbers and to determinewhether the timber species attributed anyimportance to the customers' choice. Thesurvey also aimed to identify product attri-96 PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 4 No. I, 1996Consumer Attitude Towards Tropical Hardwoods in the United KingdomTABLE 2Importance of each product attribute in wooden furniture purchase decision making (N = 144)Mean importance Difference betweenProducts attributes score subsamples IWorkmanship 4.5 0.8 nsSpecies of wood used 4.0 0.9 bCountry in which the item was produced 2.6 1.2 nsType of wood material used 4.1 0.8 nsRetail outlet where product was sold 2.1 1.1 nsManufacturer/brand of the item 2.1 l.l nsDesign of the product 4.3 0.8 nsServices offered by the seller 2.9 1.2 a,bWhether the item is produced according toBritish or other internationally acceptedstandards 3.6 1.1 nsPrice 3.9 0.9 nsNote: Scores are based on a 5-point Likert scale where I = Not at all important, 3 = Fairly important and5 = Yery important.I Statistically significant at 0.05 level, a = difference in means between gender (t-test), b = difference in means betweenhousehold income groups (ANOYA). An 'ns' denotes no statistical difference at 0.05 level in means between gender, age orhousehold income of the respondents.TABLE 3Importance of timber species attribute in purchasedecision among subsamples of respondentsSubsample Mean importance score sSex:Male 4.0 0.8Female 3.9 1.0Age:Young 4.5 0.7Middle 4.5 0.7Old 4.5 0.9Household income:Low 3.8 0.9Middle 3.9 1.2High 4.3 0.7naires were returned. The demographics ofthe respondents are shown in Table I.RESULTSA summary of the results is shown in Tables Ito 5.In selecting consumer durables includingwood products e.g. furniture the customersconsider various attributes such as suitability,quality, price and style (Kotler and Arm-strong, 1992). Other attributes said to be ofimportance are style, quality, price, suitabil-ity to other existing home furniture and itspractical value (Albaladejo, 1986) and ratethe importance often different attributes inmaking their decision. The list of attributeswas by no means exhaustive, as the mainobjective was to determine whether thetimber species was an important factor inthe purchasers, decision. A summary of theresult is shown in Table 2.Timber Species as an Important AttributeEvidently, the species of timber used tomanufacture the wood product was consid-ered an important attribute to purchasers offurniture. While the level' of importanceplaced on this attribute does not differ signi-ficantly between different gender and age ofthe respondents, the high income groups weremore concerned with the species of timberused in the manufacture than those from thelow or middle income groups (Table 3).Consumer attitude to other attributes of wood productsIt is also worth noting that the consumers arequality conscious as reflected by the highPertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Yol. 4 No.1, 1996 97Shukri Mohamed, Rusli Mohd and Awang Nor Abdul GhaniTABLE 4Mean attitude score of respondents - by varioussubsamplesAttributes required of tropical wood productsThe respondents indicated that they wouldpurchase tropical wood products if the pricewas competitive with similar items made ofother materials. In addition, the woodmaterial used to manufacture the tropicalwood product should not be chemicallytreated, and should have suitable propertiesfor the intended use, and should be of atimber species known to them. Apart fromproduct quality and design, some requiredthat the wood material used should comefrom managed sources. In addition, thepopularity of the timber species used is oneof the attributes mentioned by those respon-dents. Consumers in the UK generally preferhousehold furniture with real wood and woodfinishes, and tropical hardwoods such as teakand mahogany have been popular timberspecies in the manufacture of householdfurniture in the UK (ITTOjITC, 1990). Itis worth noting that income is important in arespondent's purchase decision. High incomehouseholders tend to place more importanceon the timber species than others.Wood products manufacturers in UK arereducing the amount of tropical hardwoodused due to growing pressures by the con-sumer who are concerned with the currentenvironmental issues (ibid.). This is eviden tfrom the present study, as the respondentsgenerally had a negative attitude towardstropical hardwoods. The finding is in contrastwith earlier reports about the UK consumers'insensitivity towards environmental issuesconcerning tropical forests and their indiffer-ence to the source of timber. With respect tothe demographic variables used in this study,female respondents, regardless of their ageand household earnings, were more negativetowards tropical hardwoods than men.The consumers in UK have been exposedto various forms of publications and televisionprogrammes dealing with the ill-effects ofdeforestation, especially on the environmentaldegradation and destruction supposedly as aresult of commercial logging in the tropics.Some non-governmental organisations( Gas), like the Friends of the Earth-UK,published the 'Good Wood Guide' highlight-ing deforestation in the tropics and has notMean attitude score s-2.4 3.3-1.5 3.6-3.4 2.6-2.6 3.1-2.2 3.3-2.3 3.6-2.9 2.9-2.5 2.8-1.5 3.9differen t at the 0.05 levelHousehold income: bLowMiddleHighConsumer Attitude towards Tropical TimberAn overall mean attitude score of -2.4was obtained, which implies that the respon-dents have an unfavourable or negative atti-tude towards tropical hardwoods (Table 4).While the attitude of the respondents towardstropical hardwoods do not differ significantlywith their age or household income, theirgender did playa significant role. Womenappear to be more negative towards tropicalhardwoods than men, as their scores aresignificantly higher than men (Table 5). Themean atti-tude score for the women respon-dents of -3.4 is also higher than the overallmean score. There is also a high percentage ofthose in the low and middle householdincome groups who do not favour tropicalhardwoods.All respondentsSubsampleote: a Significantly(t-test)b • at significantly different at the 0.05 level(A OVA)importance score accorded to workmanshipand the standard of the manufactured woodproduct. Other attributes of high importancewere the product's design and type of woodmaterial used to manufacture the product. Itis also interesting to note that the consumersplace relatively lower importance on the priceof the product.Sex:aMaleFemale, Age:bYoungMiddleOld98 PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 4- No. 1,1996Consumer Attitude Towards Tropical Hardwoods in the United KingdomTABLE 5Distribution of respondents in the different subsamples based on their level of attitudetowards tropical timbers (percentage)Attitude levelSubsample Unfavourable Neutral FavourableAll respondents 72.2 7.6 20.1Sex:aMale 61.3 9.3 29.3Female 84.1 5.8 10.1Age: bYoung 75.9 6.9 17.2Middle 68.2 9.1 22.7Old 71.4 7.1 21.4Household income: aLow 76.3 10.2 13.5Middle 80.9 4.8 14.3High 58.1 6.9 34.9Note: Classification into various level of attitude is based on the respondent's total attitude scorea Statistically significant relationship between gender and household income and attitude at the 0.05 level (Chi-square test)b No statistically significant relationship between age and attitude at the 0.05 level (Chi-square test)classified tropical timbers as "good wood".Public rallies are often organised by theseNGOs at the vicinity of retail stores purport-edly selling tropical wood products fromunmanaged sources. These efforts have notonly raised public awareness on the issue oftropical deforestation, but also probably helpdevelop the consumers' negative attitudetowards tropical timbers.CONCLUSIONIn conclusion, consumers in the UnitedKingdom generally have a negative attitudetowards tropical hardwoods. As the timberspecies used in the manufacture of a woodproduct is considered to be an importantattribute by consumers in the UK, it couldhave an adverse effect on the demand fortropical wood products. To be appealing tothe general consumers, tropical wood pro-ducts must not only be priced competitivelywith similar items made of other timberspecies and/or non-wood substitutes butshould also be appealing to them in terms ofquality, design and environmental considera-tions. Ideally, these wood products shouldalso be manufactured from timbers sourcedfrom environment-friendly managed forests.Marketers of tropical wood products maywant to target their products to specific nichespositively disposed towards tropical hard-woods. A substantial percentage of the maleand high income household respondents inthe study do not have negative attitudetowards tropical hardwoods, and could bethe target niches for marketing tropical woodproducts. The main contention for thenegative attitude towards tropical hardwoodis not the timber species itself but on themanner its sources are managed. If thetropical hardwood-producing countriescould convince its market that their tropicalforest resources are indeed properly managedand logged, there is no reason why thoseconsumers who have been using tropicalwood products should stop doing so in thefuture. The only rational and long-termsolu tion to counter the growing greenconsumerism is to market wood productsfrom certified, managed tropical forests.Pertanika]. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 4- No.1, 1996 99Shukri Mohamed, Rusli Mohd and Awang Nor Abdul GhaniREFERENCESALBALADEJO, J.L. 1986. Notes on the marketingoffurniture and export trade. Paper presentedat Seminar on the Export Marketing of woodenfurniture. Kuala Lumpur.ANON. 1993a. A paler shade of green. TimberTrades Journal 30 January supplement:4 - 5.ANON. 1993b. Not at all green in the garden.Timber Trades Journal 27 February: 14 - 15.BAKER, C. 1992. Attitude and Language. Multi-lingual Matters Ltd.ITTO/ITC. 1990. Wooden household furniture: Astudy of major markets. International TradeCentre/GATT, Geneva.KOTLER, P. and G. Armstrong. 1992. Principlesof Marketing. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:Prentice-Hall International, Inc.MERCER, D. 1992. Marketing. Oxford: BlackwellPublishers ..MORI. 1990. Tropical rainforests and the envir-onment: A study of public attitudes. Researchconducted for the World Wide Fund forNature. Market Opinion & Research Inter-national.PRIDE, W.M. and D.C. FERREL. 1977. Market-ing: Basic concepts and decisions. Houghton:Mifflin Company.STURESON, F.N. and S.A. SINCLAIR. 1991.United States consumers' views on ready-to-assemble furniture. Wood and Fiber Science23(2): 207 - 219.SULLIVAN, F. 1990. Nailing hardwoods. BBCWILDLIFE. June: 357.UPTON, C. 1993. Positively certifiable. TimberTrades Journal 30 January supplement: 18 -20.(Received 22 December 1993)100 Pertanikaj. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 4 No. 1,1996

Consumer Attitude Towards Tropical Hardwoods in the United Kingdom

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Consumer Attitude Towards Tropical Hardwoods in the United Kingdom

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