ReseaRch PaPeR Journal of Agricultural and Marine Sciences 2020, 25(1): 27–38 DOI: 10.24200/jams.vol25iss1pp27-38 Reveived 05 Nov 2019 Accepted 31 Dec 2019 Consumers’ Preference and Behaviour Pattern Towards Fresh and Smoked Catfish in Ilorin Metropolis, Nigeria W. A. Jimoh*, A. A. Ayeloja, E. T. Agboola, A. Abdullahi *W. A. Jimoh ( ) Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries, University of Ilorin, PMB 1515, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. email: jimoh.wa@unilorin.edu.ng Introduction T he fisheries sector plays significant role in the economic development of many countries as it contributes to employment generation, income augmentation, addressing food and nutritional securi- ty concerns and foreign earnings (Sabater et al., 2008). Nigerians, on realization that there existed a wide gap between demand and supply of animal protein in the 1990s, invested heavily in fish production (Jimoh et al., 2013). Today Nigeria is a leading catfish producer in the Sub Saharan Africa. Catfish production in Nigeria rep- resents more than half of the total production volume with an estimation of 13.3 kg annual per capita fish con- sumption in 2013 (FAO, 2017). In order to avoid wastage and economic loss, fresh catfish is hot smoked to keep its quality at a high level (Ayeloja et al., 2017). With in- creasing demand for fish as per capital income, and high prices of alternative sources of animal protein, there has been a shift to the consumption of fish. These are mostly in fresh and smoked forms. Due to the increase in aqua- culture production and Nigeria’s population, there is a need to study the consumers’ preference and consump- tion pattern so that investors can determine the prod- uct that are preferred; thereby witnessing sustained fish demand. In general, consumers’ buying of any product largely depends upon their perception about the product (Ka- zmi, 2012). Hansen (2006) stated that consumer pref- erences for products differ depending on the nature of a product as well as the social and economic status of the consumer. Consumers purchasing decisions are de- termined by cultural, social, personal and psychological factors (Lautiainen, 2015). Solomon (2010) opined that a consumer’s occupation, income level and purchasing power influences their purchasing decisions and buy- ing behavior. Research into consumers’ preference and behavior is necessary for the development of the con- sumers’ products to secure sustained consumer demand and to maximize profit (Costa and Jongen, 2006). Various strategies are used in collecting information on consum- ers’ behavior and preference on a product in order to witness sustained consumer demands of the products تفضيل املستهلكني وسلوكهم تجاه سمك السلور والسمك املدخن كام هو موضح يف دراسة إليورين ، نيجرييا جيمو أ ، ايلوجا أ ، أجبووال ت ، عبدالله أ abstRact. Consumers’ preference study allows industries to tailor the supply towards the preference of consumers so that market could be optimized for their turn-over and profits. This study investigated consumers’ preference of fresh and smoked catfish in Ilorin Metropolis. A total of 225 questionnaires were administered adopting multi-stage techniques to elicit information from the respondents. The obtained data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that majority of the respondents in this study preferred smoked catfish irrespective of their socio-eco- nomic profile. The majority of the respondents agreed with the factors used in this study for the preference of fish (i.e. types) and their frequency of eating as their preferred fish. This study showed that only tribe of the respondents showed significant effect (p<0.05) on the respondents’ preferences for whole or chunk fish; and family size, age and religion had significant effect on the frequency of their preferred fish. KeywoRds: catfish, preference; principal component analysis; consumption behavior; scree plot. امللخــص: إن دراســة مــا يفضلــه املســتهلكني، تســمح للقطــاع الصناعــي بإمــداد الســوق باملنتجــات التــي يفضلونهــا حيــث أن ذلــك يســاعد عــى تحســن الســوق و زيــادة األربــاح. ولذلــك تــم إجــراء هــذه الدراســة ملعرفــة مــا يفضلــه املســتهلكني مــن ســمك الســلور ســواء الطــازج واملدخــن يف مدينــة إليوريــن. حيــث تــم توزيــع 225 اســتبيان إلســتخالص املعلومــات مــن عينــة الدراســة. وقــد خضعــت البيانــات التــي تــم الحصــول عليهــا اىل إحصــاءات وصفيــة واســتنتاجية. حيــث أظهــرت النتائــج أن غالبيــة املشــاركني يف هــذه الدراســة يفضلــون ســمك الســلور املدخــن بغــض النظــر عــن وضعهــم االجتامعــي و االقتصــادي. كذلــك وافــق غالبيــة املشــاركني عــى أن العوامــل التــي تــم دراســتها هــي املســؤولة عــن تفضيلهــم لنــوع معــني مــن االســامك وتكــرار اســتهالك تلــك االســامك. باالضافــة اىل ذلــك أظهــرت هــذه الدراســة أن القبيلــة فقــط لهــا تأثــري كبــري )p<0.05( عــى تفضيــل األســامك كاملــة أو كقطــع كبــرية ؛ وكان لحجــم األرسة والعمــر والديــن تأثــري كبــري عــى تكــرار اســتهالك تلــك األســامك املفضلــة لديهــم. الكلامت املفتاحية: سمك السلور ، التفضيل ، تحليل املكون الرئييس ، سلوك املستهلكني ، التمثيل البياين. 30 sQU JoURnal of agRicUltURal and MaRine sciences, 2020, VolUMe 25, issUe 1 Consumers’ Preference and Behaviour Pattern Towards Fresh and Smoked Catfish as Studied in Ilorin Metropolis, Nigeria (Nijssen and Lieshout, 1995). Information that affects consumers’ preference and behavior for a particular product, such as demographic, sociocultural, socioeco- nomic information, are collected by the food industry to maintain their products competitive in the markets or to develop products that could satisfy the preference of the consumers (Stewart-Knox and Mitchell, 2003). Socio-cul- tural factors which include ethnic composition, edu- cation, and lifestyles have been reported to influence consumers’ preference and buying pattern (Meulenberg and Viaene, 2005). Religious composition also plays in- fluential role in consumers’ preference (Solomon, 2010). Household size, age and gender distribution was also re- ported to have influence on the demand for a particular product (Hoek et al., 2004). The evaluation of consum- ers’ preference for fresh and smoked-dried fish products can be used to prepare production planning and distri- bution of fish across the country (Adeniyi et al., 2012). Figure 1. Socio-economic profile and their preference for part of chunk preferred (legends are shown in Figure 2) 31ReseaRch PaPeR Jimoh, Ayeloja, Agboola, Abdullahi It gave a better understanding of the relationship that existed with the actual consumption or purchase (Honk- anen et al., 2004; Olsen, 2004). The most closely studied relations in consumer economics is the association be- tween personal preferences, consumption and demand curve (Myrland et al., 2000). Preference is considered to be the major factor influencing general food consump- tion behavior (Myrland et al., 2000). Fish consumption is mostly affected by tradition, and habit; it can be en- hanced by nutritional awareness (Pieniak et al., 2008). Although many researchers have studied consumers’ preferences for fresh and smoke-dried catfish products (Jimoh et al., 2013; Sabater et al., 2008), there is a paucity of information on consumer’s acceptability of fresh and smoked-dried catfish, thus this research was planned. This study therefore examined consumers’ preference and behavior for fresh and smoked catfish sold within Ilorin, Nigeria. Materials and Methods This study area was Ilorin the capital of Kwara state. It is located on latitude 8˚30’N and longitude 4˚35’E, in North Western Nigeria. Ilorin city has a population of 847,582 and it is a confluence of cultures, populated by Yoruba, Fulani and other tribes. Its town has about three local government areas including Ilorin east, Ilorin west and Ilorin south. The population comprises different fish mongers and consumers within Ilorin. Primary data were collected with the use of scheduled interview using structured questionnaire. Primary data for this study were collected using mul- tistage sampling techniques. The first stage involved the selection of three (3) wards under each of the three Local Government Areas selected using simple random tech- nique, which gave a total of nine (9) wards. The second stage involved selection of five (5) communities under each ward using simple random technique, which gave a total of forty-five (45) communities. The third stage involved the selection of 5 respondents comprising of 2 fish mongers and 3 fish consumers from each commu- nity selected using simple random techniques, which resulted in a total of 225 respondents. However, the re- sponse rate was 88.9%, which resulted 200 respondents as the sample size. The reliability of items in the questionnaire was mea- sured using Cronbach’s Alpha method of examining reli- ability. The Cronbach Alpha offered a measure of the in- Figure 2. Socio-economic profile and their preference for part of chunk preferred 32 sQU JoURnal of agRicUltURal and MaRine sciences, 2020, VolUMe 25, issUe 1 Consumers’ Preference and Behaviour Pattern Towards Fresh and Smoked Catfish as Studied in Ilorin Metropolis, Nigeria ternal consistency of a scale or test, expressed as number between 0 (completely unreliable test) and 1 (complete- ly reliable test). An Alpha score above 0.75 is generally taken to indicate a scale of high reliability, 0.5 to 0.75 is generally accepted as indicating a moderately reliable scale, while a figure below this generally indicates a scale of low reliability. Data Analysis The reliability of items in the questionnaire was mea- sured using Cronbach’s Alpha method of examining reliability. Scale statistics was done using a measure of central tendencies. The data collected were processed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive analysis was mainly in terms of percentage and frequency of distribution to show the socio-eco- nomic profile of the respondents and factors that guide the respondents in their preference of fish in the study area. Bar charts were used to depict the socio-econom- ic profile of the respondents and their preference for certain parts of fish or the other. Inferential statistics (chi-square statistics) were used to test the significance of the effect of some socio-economic profile of the re- spondents on their preference for the type or part of fish or the frequency of eating their preferred fish. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to select variable of importance in the factors that guide the preference for certain types or part of fish and their frequency of eating (i.e. their preferred fish) using eigenvalue. The percent- age of variance as indices after the data was subjected to Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure as the sampling adequacy and Bartlett’s test of sphericity. All the analysis were conducted using SPSS version 17 (SPSS, 2008). Results Reliability Analysis of the Questionnaire The reliability value of items in the questionnaire was 0.645, indicating a moderate reliability (Table 1). Table 1. Reliability Analysis of the Questionnaire Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha 0.688 Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items 0.645 Number of Items 29 Scale Statistics Mean 77.54 Variance 99.250 Std. Deviation 9.962 Number of Items 29 Socio-economic Profile of the Respondents Personal information of the respondents using frequen- cy counts and percentage are shown in Table 2. Respon- dent were almost equally distributed across genders with 50.5% of the respondents being male and 49.5% of the respondents being female; 43.5% fell within the age group 31-40 years as compared to 8% of the respon- dents fell within the age group of 50 years and above. The majority of the respondents practice Christianity and Islam (46%) as compared to 8% are traditional wor- shippers. The majority of the respondents (43%) were married while 5% were widow/widower. The major- ity of the respondents: 60.5% were Yoruba tribe, while Hausas had the lowest percentage (10%). Most of the respondents had formal education and only 11.5% of the respondents were not educated. Respondents (37 %) were civil servants, 33% were traders and 30% of the respondents were Artisans. Spending capacity of the responds were: 41% spent below ₦15,000, 33.5% spent ₦15,000 - ₦30,000 while 8% of the respondents spent above ₦45,000 on fish every month. Based on house hold size, this study showed that majority of the respon- dents 43.5% fell within the house hold size of 5-8 people, while 15% were 9-12 people, respectively. Figure 3. Scree plot showing the Eigen value of the studied variables 33ReseaRch PaPeR Jimoh, Ayeloja, Agboola, Abdullahi Socio-economic Profile of the Respondents and their Preference for Fresh or Smoked Fish Table 3 shows the cross tabulation (chi-square test of in- dependence) of the demographic factors of the respon- dent against their preference for fresh or smoked fish. The socio-economic profile did not show significant ef- fect (p>0.10) on the preference of respondents for fresh or smoked fish except religion. Socio-economic Profile of the Respondents and their Preference for Whole or Chunk Fish Table 4 shows the cross tabulation (chi-square test of in- dependence) of the demographic factors of the respon- dent against their preferred type of fish, either whole or Table 2. Socio economic profiles of the respondents Variables Parameters Frequency Percent Sex Male 101 50.5 Female 99 49.5 Age Range Less than 30 57 28.5 31.40 87 43.5 41-50 40 20 Above 50 16 8 Religion Christianity 92 46 Islam 92 46 Traditional 16 8 Marital Status Single 52 26 Engaged 52 26 Married 86 43 Widow/Widower 10 5 Tribes Hausa 20 10 Igbo 21 15.5 Yoruba 121 60.5 Other tribes 28 14 Educational Attainment No formal Education 23 11.5 Primary School 30 15 Secondary School 47 23.5 University 100 50 Occupation Civil Servant 74 37 Artisanal 60 30 Trader 66 33 Monthly Expenditure Below N15,000 82 41 15,000-30,000 67 33.5 30,000-45,000 35 17.5 Above 45,000 16 8 Family Size Below 4 66 33 5-8 87 43.5 9-12 30 15 Above 13 17 8.5 chunk of fish. The table shows that only tribe of the re- spondents had significant effect (p<0.05) on the respon- dents’ preference for whole or chunk fish, while other socio-economic profile had no significant effect (p>0.05) on the respondents’ preference for whole or trunk fish. Socio-economic Profile and their Preference for Part of Chunk Preferred The bar chart in the Figures 1 and 2 show that majori- ty of the respondents with the family size regardless of sex, occupation or tribe of respondents preferred to eat the trunk part of fish. Also, respondents aged 50 or less prefer eating trunk fish although those above 50 years of age prefer to eat tail of fish. The bar chart also shows that the majority of the respondents practice Islam and 34 sQU JoURnal of agRicUltURal and MaRine sciences, 2020, VolUMe 25, issUe 1 Consumers’ Preference and Behaviour Pattern Towards Fresh and Smoked Catfish as Studied in Ilorin Metropolis, Nigeria Table 3. Socio economic profiles of the respondents Socio-economic Factors Types of Preferred Fish Total χ2-value Significance Fresh Smoked Family Size < 4 27 39 66 0.137 NS 5-8 39 48 87 9-12 11 18 29 >12 12 05 17 Total 89 110 199 Sex Male 47 53 100 0.306 NS Female 42 57 99 Total 89 110 199 Age (Years) <30 29 27 56 0.512 NS 31-40 35 52 87 41-50 19 21 40 >50 06 10 16 Total 89 110 199 Religion Christianity 46 46 92 0.093 * Islam 40 51 91 Traditional 03 12 15 Total 89 110 199 Tribe Hausa 07 12 19 0.143 NS Igbo 10 21 31 Yoruba 62 59 121 Others 10 18 28 Total 89 110 199 Marital Status Single 23 28 51 89 110 Engaged 20 31 51 Married 21 45 86 Widow/widower 05 06 11 Total 89 110 199 Educational Attainment NFE 12 11 23 0.183 NS Primary 09 21 30 Secondary 18 28 46 Tertiary 50 50 100 Total 89 110 199 Occupation Civil Servant 36 38 74 0.675 NS Artisans 23 37 60 Trader 30 35 65 Total 89 110 199 Financial Status <15,000 42 40 82 0.229 NS 16,000-30,000 25 41 66 31,000-40,000 13 22 35 >45,000 09 07 16 Total 89 110 199 NS: not significant (p<0.1) NFE: No Formal Education *: Significant 35ReseaRch PaPeR Jimoh, Ayeloja, Agboola, Abdullahi Table 4. Socio-economic profile of the respondents and their preference for whole or chunk fish. Socio-economic Factors Types of Preferred Fish Total χ2-value Significance Fresh Smoked Family Size < 4 35 31 66 0.678 NS 5-8 48 39 87 9-12 14 16 30 >12 7 10 17 Total 104 96 200 Sex Male 55 46 101 0.288 NS Female 49 50 99 Total 104 96 200 Age (Years) <30 29 28 57 0.630 NS 31-40 48 39 87 41-50 21 19 40 >50 06 10 16 Total 104 96 200 Religion Christianity 49 43 92 0.309 NS Islam 50 42 92 Traditional 05 10 15 Total 104 95 199 Tribe Hausa 09 11 20 0.011 * Igbo 10 21 31 Yoruba 74 47 121 Others 11 17 28 Total 104 96 200 Marital Status Single 30 21 51 4.06 NS Engaged 27 25 52 Married 44 42 86 Widow/widower 03 07 10 Total 104 95 199 Educational Attainment NFE 08 15 23 0.105 NS Primary 14 16 30 Secondary 22 25 47 Tertiary 60 40 100 Total 104 96 200 Occupation Civil Servant 39 35 74 0.746 NS Artisans 32 28 60 Trader 33 33 66 Total 104 96 200 Financial Status <15,000 41 41 82 0932 NS 16,000-30,000 37 30 67 31,000-40,000 18 17 35 >45,000 08 08 16 Total 104 96 200 *: significant (p <0.05) NS: Not Significant 36 sQU JoURnal of agRicUltURal and MaRine sciences, 2020, VolUMe 25, issUe 1 Consumers’ Preference and Behaviour Pattern Towards Fresh and Smoked Catfish as Studied in Ilorin Metropolis, Nigeria Table 5. Socio-economic profile and frequency of eating their preferred fish Socio-economic Factors Frequency of eating Preferred Fish Total χ2-value Significance Daily Weekly Monthly Festive Period Family Size < 4 28 25 10 03 66 0.000 * 5-8 27 40 17 03 87 9-12 10 03 13 04 30 >12 04 03 06 04 17 Total 69 71 46 14 200 Sex Male 35 34 24 8 101 0.920 NS Female 34 37 22 6 99 Total 69 71 46 14 200 Age (Years) <30 23 21 10 03 57 0.014 * 31-40 32 34 20 01 87 41-50 11 12 11 06 40 >50 03 04 05 04 16 Total 69 71 46 14 200 Religion Christianity 41 32 13 06 92 0.007 * Islam 27 35 24 06 92 Traditional 01 04 08 02 15 Total 69 71 45 14 199 Tribe Hausa 04 06 10 0 20 0.000 * Igbo 10 12 08 1 31 Yoruba 49 47 19 6 121 Others 06 06 09 7 28 Total 69 71 46 14 200 Marital Status Single 21 18 09 03 51 0.069 NS Engaged 15 27 08 02 52 Married 29 25 25 07 86 Widow/widower 03 01 04 02 10 Total 68 71 46 14 199 Educational Attainment NFE 07 05 07 04 23 0.190 NS Primary 11 09 10 0 30 Secondary 13 19 12 03 47 Tertiary 38 38 17 07 100 Total 69 71 46 14 200 Occupation Civil Servant 30 20 18 06 74 0.608 NS Artisans 18 26 14 03 61 Trader 21 25 14 05 65 Total 69 71 46 14 200 Financial Status <15,000 27 31 18 06 82 0.430 NS 16,000-30,000 24 27 13 03 67 31,000-40,000 11 11 11 02 35 >45,000 07 02 04 03 16 Total 69 71 46 14 200 *: significant (p<0.05) NS: not significant 37ReseaRch PaPeR Jimoh, Ayeloja, Agboola, Abdullahi Christianity, and they preferred eating the trunk part of fish. The traditionalists preferred the tail of fish except those who have no formal education whose majority prefer eating the tail of fish, the majority of educated re- spondents irrespective of their educational attainment preferred eating trunk of fish. The majority of the other socio-economic factors under this study preferred eat- ing trunk of fish. Socio-economic Profile and Frequency of Eat- ing Fish Table 5 shows the cross tabulation (chi-square test of independents) of the social-economic profile of the re- spondents against the frequency of their preferred fish. It shows that family size, age and religion had significant effect on the frequency of eating fish. Factors Guiding Preference for Fish Consump- tion Table 6 shows the factors guiding preference for fish consumption. The mean score on the 5-point likert scale for all the variables under consideration were above 2.5, which is the average of the 5-point likert scale. Majority of the respondents agreed with the studied variables as factors responsible for their preference of certain type or part of fish and their frequency of eating fish. The con- fidence interval estimated for all the studied variables were all very highly significant (p<0.0001). Factor Analysis Table 7 shows the results of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett’s test of sphericity as conducted prior to PCA. The KMO test was 0.708 with Bartlett’s Test of sphericity being significant (p<0.05). The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy (KMO) was calculated using correlations and partial correlations to test whether the variables in our sample are adequate to correlate, it was calculated to identify whether variables were so highly correlated and cannot be distinguished between them (multicollineari- ty). A general rule of thumb is that a KMO value should be greater than 0.5 for a satisfactory factor. The higher the value is considered better. The KMO value in this study was 0.708, showing the data can be used for PCA. The results of the Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity shows Table 7. KMO and Bartlett’s Test Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) Measure of Sampling Adequacy 0.708 Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 1034 DF 120 Significant 0.000 Table 6. Factors guiding preference for fish Variables SD D U A SA Mean SD CIE 1. Fish is highly nutritive 22(11%) 16(8%) 07(3.5%) 71(35.5%) 84(42%) 3.89 1.34 3.70-4.00*** 2. It is less costly 10(5%) 26(13.1%) 14(7%) 97(48.7%) 52(26.1%) 3.78 1.12 3.62-3.94*** 3. It is more delicious 11(5.5%) 14(7%) 21(10.5%) 106(53%) 48(24%) 3.83 1.05 3.68-3.98*** 4. It has sweet aroma 14(7%) 16(8%) 10(5.1%) 108(54.3%) 51(25.6%) 3.83 1.11 3.68-3.99*** 5. It is easy to cook 09(4.5%) 13(6.5%) 22(11%) 97(48.5%) 59(29.5%) 3.92 1.03 3.78-4,06*** 6. Packaging 14(7%) 32(16%) 29(14.5%) 87(43.5%) 38(19%) 3.52 1.17 3.35-3.68*** 7. Size of fish 09(4.5%) 27(13.6%) 36(18.1%) 82(41.2%) 45(22.6%) 3.64 1.11 3.48-3.79*** 8. Does your age affect choice 18(9%) 53(26.5%) 44(22%) 62(31%) 23(11.5%) 3.10 1.18 2.93-3.26*** 9. Does your health status influence your choice 18(9%) 62(31.2%) 35(17.6%) 59(29.6%) 25(12.6%) 3.64 1.22 2.99-3.23*** 10. Physical features of fish 17(8.5%) 43(21.5%) 42(21%) 77(38.5%) 21(10.5%) 3.21 1.15 3.05-3.37*** 11. Psycho-social issues 17(8.5%) 49(24.5%) 46(23%) 60(30%) 28(14%) 3.16 1.19 3.00-3.33*** 12. Level of Disposable income 12(6%) 49(24.5%) 46(23%) 60(30%) 28(14%) 3.58 1.12 3.42-3.74*** 13. Fish Size Requirement 17(8.5%) 25(12.5%) 38(19%) 85(42.5%) 40(20%) 3.60 1.17 3.44-3.77*** 14. Availability 17(8.5%) 19(9.5%) 20(10%) 110(55%) 34(17%) 3.62 1.13 3.47-3.78*** 15. Family Background 27(13.5%) 58(29%) 30(15%) 64(32%) 21(10.5%) 2.97 1.26 2.79-3.15*** 16. Cultural Background 39(19.5%) 46(23%) 34(17%) 49(24.5%) 32(16%) 2.94 1.38 2.75-3.14*** D: Disagreed; SD: Strongly Disagreed; U: Undecided; A: Agreed; SA: Strongly Agreed SD: Standard Deviation ; CIE: Confidence Interval Estimate, *** Significant difference 38 sQU JoURnal of agRicUltURal and MaRine sciences, 2020, VolUMe 25, issUe 1 Consumers’ Preference and Behaviour Pattern Towards Fresh and Smoked Catfish as Studied in Ilorin Metropolis, Nigeria Table 8. Communalities showing percentage of the variabili- ty in variables that is explained by the extracted factors S/n Variables Initial Extraction 1. Fish is highly nutritive 1.000 0.638 2. It is less costly 1.000 0.683 3. It is more delicious 1.000 0.637 4. It has sweet aroma 1.000 0.534 5. It is easy to cook 1.000 0.407 6. Packaging 1.000 0.617 7. Size of Fish 1.000 0.417 8. Age 1.000 0.785 9. Health 1.000 0.762 10. Physical feature of fish 1.000 0.549 11. Psycho-social issues 1.000 0.637 12. Level of disposable incomes 1.000 0.472 13. Fish size requirement 1.000 0.509 14. Availability 1.000 0.520 15. Family Background 1.000 0.608 16. Cultural Background 1.000 0.619 whether there is a relationship between the variables. If no relationship is found then there is no point in pro- ceeding with the factor analysis. A p-value less than 0.05 indicated that it was necessary to continue with the fac- tor analysis. Since the p-value obtained in this study was significant (p <0.001) it can be concluded that there were relationships between variables considered in this study, hence the data generated can be used for factor analysis. Extraction Method: Principal Component Anal- ysis Table 8 explains the percentage of the variability in the variables that is explained by the extracted factors. The results showed greater than 50% of the variation in each variable were explained by extracted factors except for variable 5 and 12 that were below 50%. Table 9 reveals that four components (or factors) have been produced with eigenvalues greater than 1 accounting for 58.71% of the variance in the data. If more than 5% variance is to be selected, then first 13 factors would be selected. The scree plot is presented in Figure 3. Discussion The Cronbach’s Alpha value obtained in this study de- picted the items in the questionnaire to have moderate reliability as the total scores of the questionnaire. The respondents score was 77.54 (mean) with a variance of 99.25, and a standard deviation of 9.96. The small stan- dard deviation indicated that variations in the scores of our respondents was small for the overall total score on the questionnaire, thus indicating moderate reliability of the questionnaire. Chi-square test of independence was used to show whether significant difference existed be- tween the socio-economic profile of the respondent and the factors guiding their choice of catfish type and part. This test showed that there was no significant difference between the socio-economic profile of the respondents and their preference for smoked or fresh catfish except religion. This study showed that only tribe played signifi- cant role in the association between the socio-economic profile of the respondent and their choice for whole or chunk fish. Van Trijp and Steenkamp (2005) observed similar trend in their study of the influence of cultural factors on consumer buying behavior (i.e. a case study of pork). Sethi and Chawla (2014) also stated that tribal, social, cultural and psychological factors were some of the major factors that influenced the buying behavior of consumers. Tribe, culture, subculture and social class had profound influences on people’s behavior because they were powerful drivers in the formation of attitudes, beliefs and values, this explained why certain consump- tion behavior was hard to change once developed (Blythe, 2008a, b). Socio–cultural factors have been re- ported to have impact on fish consumption preference (Myrland et al., 2000). The result of this study also indi- cated that religion also had a significant effect on the type of catfish preferred and frequency of consumption of their preferred fish. Religion was a major component of culture, it has strong influence on people’s lives and behavior (Cwiertka, 2005; Kumar et al., 2008; Wandel et al., 2008). Ijewere and Odia (2012) and Lawan and Zan- na (2013) opined that religion exerted the great influ- ence on the thinking, perception and behavior of many people in the world. That was a key element of culture which influenced both behavior and purchasing deci- sions, it therefore influenced what to buy and in what form it should be bought. This study equally established that family size and age have significant association be- tween socio-economic profile and the frequency of their consumption of preferred fish, while others had no sig- nificant association. Can et al. (2015) also observed that age group had significant influence on fish consumption preference among people leaving in Antakaya commu- nity in Turkey. Palash (2004) also observed that family size have significant influential role on consumption pattern and consumer behavior of fish in Dhaka city. Most of the respondents agreed with the variable listed as factor affecting consumers’ preference on fresh and smoked fish. Kumar et al. (2008) reported that perceived quality of fish such as taste, health benefits, nutrition, price and availability are factors that could influence consumers’ preference. Family size, age and religion had significant effect on the frequency of their preferred fish in this study. This was in consonance with the reports of Meulenberg and Viaene (2005) and Costa and Jon- gen (2006), as the size of families and households and demand for a food product. Also, Hoek et al. (2004) re- ported that demographic factors, such as household size and age could be used as indices of food preference and 39ReseaRch PaPeR Jimoh, Ayeloja, Agboola, Abdullahi demand. Greater percentage of our respondents are ed- ucated and readily agreed that level of education consti- tuted one of the factor guiding their preference of fresh or smoked fish. They were the nutrition-conscious con- sumers. This study showed that respondents who had low level of educational did not consume as much fish as the respondents who were educated. The increased ed- ucation level lead to produce and consume healthy food as educated consumers are nutrition-conscious (Brody and Lord, 2007; Kearney, 2010; Senauer et al. 1991). Conclusion Fish consumption is influenced by many factors. These factors mainly determine the consumers’ preference for fish. The present study indicated most of the respon- dents’ preferred smoked catfish irrespective of their so- cio-economic profile. The majority of the respondents agreed with the studied variables (e. g. price, packaging, age) as the factors responsible for their preference of certain type or part of fish and their frequency of eat- ing. This study showed that only tribe of the respondents had significant effect on the respondents’ preference for whole or chunk fish. The family size, age and religion had significant effect on the frequency of their preferred fish. It is recommended that the consumers should be educated more on nutritional value of fish because this study showed that respondents who had low level edu- cational attainment do not consume as much fish as the educated ones. 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