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Functional, organic or conventional? Food choices of health conscious and skeptical consumers

Functional, organic or conventional? Food choices of health conscious and skeptical consumers PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how health consciousness and skepticism toward health claims are related to perceived healthiness and willingness to buy functional food (i.e. functional yogurt) compared to conventional and organic (bio) food.Design/methodology/approachA survey of 295 consumers was conducted in Lithuania. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsResearch findings indicate that health conscious consumers tend to discount messages about the health value of functional food and show preferences for organic food. In contrast, skepticism toward health claims has a higher negative homogenous impact on the perceived healthiness of functional, organic and conventional products compared to health consciousness. On the other hand, skepticism toward health claims does not directly reduce consumers’ willingness to buy functional, organic and conventional products.Research limitations/implicationsTesting other settings, product categories, additional constructs and understanding underlying processes using an experimental design may help to gain more insights into how health conscious and skeptical consumers make food choices.Practical implicationsAn examination of health consciousness and skepticism toward health claims can provide at least a partial explanation as to why many functional food products fail to gain consumer confidence.Originality/valueBased on the reactance theory, the study sheds some light on the understanding of how different psychosocial factors are related to consumer attitudes toward functional, organic and conventional food. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Baltic Journal of Management Emerald Publishing

Functional, organic or conventional? Food choices of health conscious and skeptical consumers

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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
1746-5265
DOI
10.1108/BJM-01-2016-0016
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how health consciousness and skepticism toward health claims are related to perceived healthiness and willingness to buy functional food (i.e. functional yogurt) compared to conventional and organic (bio) food.Design/methodology/approachA survey of 295 consumers was conducted in Lithuania. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsResearch findings indicate that health conscious consumers tend to discount messages about the health value of functional food and show preferences for organic food. In contrast, skepticism toward health claims has a higher negative homogenous impact on the perceived healthiness of functional, organic and conventional products compared to health consciousness. On the other hand, skepticism toward health claims does not directly reduce consumers’ willingness to buy functional, organic and conventional products.Research limitations/implicationsTesting other settings, product categories, additional constructs and understanding underlying processes using an experimental design may help to gain more insights into how health conscious and skeptical consumers make food choices.Practical implicationsAn examination of health consciousness and skepticism toward health claims can provide at least a partial explanation as to why many functional food products fail to gain consumer confidence.Originality/valueBased on the reactance theory, the study sheds some light on the understanding of how different psychosocial factors are related to consumer attitudes toward functional, organic and conventional food.

Journal

Baltic Journal of Management – Emerald Publishing

Published: Apr 3, 2017

References

  • Consumer generalization of nutrient content claims in advertising
  • Consumer perception of functional foods: a conjoint analysis with probiotics
  • Do consumers prefer foods with nutrition and health claims? Results of a purchase simulation
  • How acceptable is social marketing for more healthful eating? Selected findings from an expert interview study
  • The perceived healthiness of functional foods. a conjoint study of Danish, Finnish and American consumers’ perception of functional foods
  • Buyer beliefs, attitudes and behaviour: foods with therapeutic claims