The influence of selected factors on the use of herbal products

Abstract

Competitiveness associated with the herbal industry in both developed and developing countries is quickly gaining momentum, mainly because of the medicinal benefits incurred to customers. Alternatively, prior studies have shown that herbal product consumption in a developing country is largely centered on the tendency to substitute herbal products for remedies associated with modern medicine. Given the purported benefits associated with the use of herbal products from the perspective of developing countries, only a limited amount of studies have focused on the demographic inclination and use of herbal products in the developing world. The present research concentrates on the situation in Ghana with the goal of examining the influence of specific demographic features as well as the degree of product processing in terms of how consumer choice is affected. To this end, 250 self-administered questionnaires were distributed randomly to herbal consumers in the Jaman North District in the Bono Region of Ghana, out of which 207 valid responses were analyzed using a nonparametric test. Our findings revealed that gender, age, and occupation have no positive relationship to the use of an herbal product. However, both consumers' educational level and the degree of product processing have a significant positive relationship regarding the choice of using herbal product. The present study not only adds to the literature, but offers an empirical understanding of Ghanaian consumer characteristics regarding herbal product consumption to aid production and marketing entities in establishing and sustaining competitive advantages.