The new helping the old: Social media as a facilitator for variety seeking in food choices of the grey population
ISSN: 0007-070X
Article publication date: 19 September 2019
Issue publication date: 6 January 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Evidence has shown that the population is growing “increasingly gray” and growing too are the concerns for the elderly population with regards to their food choices. Being well informed and seeking variety in food choices increase the likelihood that people will be better nourished and hence improve the quality of life for this group, and at the same time be beneficial for society overall. The purpose of this paper is to determine the influence of social network usage on food choice.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a series of logistic and ordinal logistic regression models using Health and Wellness Survey data and Internet Usage Survey data from the National Statistical Office of Thailand. The data sets contain information on health status, food consumption, proportion of population using the internet, and detailed demographics.
Findings
Empirical results show the association between variety in food consumption and lower probability of being chronically ill. More importantly, social network usage is found to significantly encourage variety seeking behavior (VSB) in food consumption.
Research limitations/implications
Though the benefit of using Thai data sets lies in the fact that there is a large variation in network usage across the country, this study should extend beyond Thailand to establish greater external validity.
Practical implications
Marketing new food products must not neglect the promotion through social networks due to its potential to encourage VSB in food consumption. Moreover, while sometimes this particular age group may be somewhat marginalized and not targeted to enough, this research study has shown that it is indeed an important segment.
Social implications
In order to relieve the growing financial burdens in health care for citizens, policy makers should encourage this ageing population to eat a balanced diet. Social media is shown to be an effective medium for promoting variety in food consumption. Notably relevance, engagement and emotion are principal elements for social network platforms targeting aging consumers.
Originality/value
This paper utilizes two large representative data sets with detailed information which does not only allow for controlled analyses but also provides implications for the growing aging consumer segment.
Keywords
Citation
Teerakapibal, S. and Melanthiou, Y. (2020), "The new helping the old: Social media as a facilitator for variety seeking in food choices of the grey population", British Food Journal, Vol. 122 No. 1, pp. 272-290. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-08-2018-0559
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited