Consumers’ consciousness of health-friendly products and services and its association with sociodemographic characteristics and health status: a cross-sectional survey of the South Korean population

ObjectivesTo identify consumers’ consciousness of health-friendly products and services (consumer reaction, purchase intention and willingness to pay more) and its association with sociodemographic characteristics and multidimensional health status.MethodsFrom March to May 2018, we administered questionnaires to 1200 individuals from the general Korean population asking about their perception of health-friendly labels, and if they would purchase such labelled products (foods, pharmaceuticals, etc) and services (purifying water, preventing air pollution, etc) at extra cost.ResultsThe participants placed a high value on the importance of mental, social, spiritual and physical health factors in terms of the company’s products and services with a score of about 8 out of 10 (range, 7.74–8.33). Most respondents (72.4%) said that they were interested in adopting health-friendly labels. When a health-friendly label is introduced (such as one by the Business for Social Responsiveness), 65.1% of the respondents said that they intended to purchase the product or service, while 6.8% said that they did not and 75.0% said that they were willing to pay extra for the health-friendly product or service. Multivariate logistic regression models showed urban residence, high education level and good social health to be significantly associated with positive attitudes towards health-friendly labels. People with high income, no religion or normal weight were more likely to say that they intend to purchase products and services with health-friendly labels. They also had a more positive attitude towards paying more for such products and services, as did people with good spiritual health.ConclusionThis study provides data that illustrate the importance of health-friendly products and services to the general population and companies.