How does incidental curiosity affect consumers’ unhealthy eating?
ISSN: 0736-3761
Article publication date: 25 June 2019
Issue publication date: 9 September 2019
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how, why and when incidental curiosity might have an influence on consumers’ unhealthy eating behaviors in a subsequent, irrelevant context.
Design/methodology/approach
Three experiments were conducted. Study 1 tested the basic main effect; Study 2 further tested the proposed process; Study 3 identified an important moderator and offered additional support for the mechanism.
Findings
Study 1 demonstrated the basic main effect that incidental curiosity increases consumers’ preference for unhealthy food. Study 2 replicated the effect in a simulated grocery-shopping task and further provided direct process evidence that a reward-approaching orientation underlies the effect of curiosity on unhealthy food choice. Finally, Study 3 identified information nature as an important moderator of the effect. That is, when people are curious about threatening information, they are likely to adopt an avoidance motivation, which prevents them from seeking any unhealthy food.
Practical implications
On the one hand, consumers could benefit from being educated that incidental exposure to curiosity cues might lead to unhealthy eating behaviors. On the other hand, public policymakers and responsible marketers should be mindful that, though widely used in marketing, the tactics that elicit consumers’ curiosity might sometimes backfire and undermine their healthy food choices.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the curiosity literature by demonstrating that incidental curiosity could have motivational impacts in the non-information domain, such as food choice. It also adds to the food decision literature by documenting incidental curiosity as an important situational factor of consumers’ food decisions.
Keywords
Citation
Wang, C. (2019), "How does incidental curiosity affect consumers’ unhealthy eating?", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 36 No. 6, pp. 784-793. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-08-2018-2835
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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