Journal of Management Science (JMAS) Volume 5, No. 2, April 2022, pp 31-36 ISSN 2684-9747 (Online) www.exsys.iocspublisher.org/index.php/JMAS Published by: Institute of Computer Science (IOCScience) Journal homepage: www.exsys.iocspublisher.org/index.php/JMAS Consumers Decision and Preference of Dry Sliced Arecas in Border Area (A Case Study in North Central Timor Regency) Yoseph Daniel Jemai 1 , Boanerges Sipayung 2 , Umbu Joka 3 , Dudi Septiadi 4 1,2,3 Department of Agribusiness, Faculty of Agriculture, Timor University, Indonesia 4 Faculty of Agriculture, University Of Mataram, Indonesia A R T I C L E I N F O ABSTRACT Article history: Received Feb 19, 2022 Revised Mar 11, 2022 Accepted Apr 11, 2022 People in North Central Timor Regency used the areca as their customary symbol and a pivotal part of their daily social life. This study aims to describe the factors affecting people's decision and preference to consume dry sliced areca nut sold in the market near the North Central Timor border. The population of this study was 259.000 people in the north-central Timor regency. As many as 360 people were recruited as the study samples using Isaac Michael's table with 10% margin of error. The study was conducted between December 2021 and February 2022. The collected data were analyzed using qualitative descriptive and logistic regression analysis techniques. This study found that age, gender, psychological factor, taste, and texture simultaneously affect consumers' decision in consuming dry sliced areca nuts. Age and texture were found to significantly affect the consumers' decisions in the North Central Timor Regency. Meanwhile, the texture was found to affect consumers' preference in selecting the dry sliced areca nut. Keywords: Border; Consumer; Culture; Decision; Dry Areca Nut. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license. Corresponding Author: Yoseph Daniel Jemai Department of Agribusiness, Timor University Sasi, Kabupaten Timor Tengah Utara, Nusa Tenggara Tim, Indonesia Email: dennyjemai@gmail.com 1. Introduction East Nusa Tenggara is an archipelago with abundant culture, tradition, beliefs, and foods. This abundant resource affects the goods and services consumed by locals. One’s consumption may depend on their purchase decision, which is affected by external and internal factors such as attitude, socio-culture, taste, product design, and innovation, among others (Suharto, 2016). Locals’ hereditary habit and culture still common in East Nusa Tenggara is consuming betel and areca nuts. Betel and areca consumption in East Nusa Tenggara contains cultural meanings. In this regard, people in this province are known to spend about 10% of their monthly food spending to buy betel and areca nuts/ Their spending for betel and areca nuts is even higher than that for protein consumption (Badan Pusat Statistik, 2021a). The North Central Timor regency is the part of the province that borders Timor Leste. The betel nut consumption in this regency is quite high. Local people spend 11.46% of their monthly food to buy betel and areca, higher than the average people in East Nusa Tenggara Province (Badan Pusat Statistik, 2021b). Demands for areca has become a social problem in North Central Timor regency. The natural and soil condition prevents them from cultivating areca on a big scale. People in this regency should hence import dry areca from other regions in Indonesia, or even occasionally from Timor Leste (Taena, 2010). People in the north central Timor call betel, areca nut, and crushed lime wrapped in “kabi” as “mamat.” They usually consume areca nuts along with betel nuts and crushed lime. (Suminar, 2020). Areca also plays a cultural role in the North Central Timor Regency. In addition to daily consumption, it serves as a dowry, and its presence, in any event, represents their pride (Naimena & Nubatonis, 2017).