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1 – 10 of 15Ann Veeck, Hongyan Yu, Hongli Zhang, Hong Zhu and Fang (Grace) Yu
The purpose of this study is to explore the association between eating patterns, social identity and the well-being of adolescents via a mixed methods study of Chinese teenagers…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the association between eating patterns, social identity and the well-being of adolescents via a mixed methods study of Chinese teenagers. The specific research questions presented in this study are as follows: What is the relationship between social eating and well-being? How is the relationship between social eating and well-being mediated by social identity?
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on a sequential mixed methods study, including interviews with 16 teenage–parent dyads, and a large-scale survey of over 1,000 teenagers on their eating patterns, conducted with the support of public schools. A model that tests relationships among social eating, social identity and subjective well-being is developed and tested.
Findings
The results show that dining with family members leads to improved subjective well-being for teenagers, through a partial mediator of stronger family identity. However, dining with peers is not found to influence subjective well-being.
Research limitations/implications
The privileged position of family meals demonstrated through this study may be an artifact of the location of this study in one Chinese city. Further research is needed related to the connections among social identity, objective well-being and the social patterns of teenagers’ food consumption behavior.
Practical implications
To improve the subjective well-being of teenagers, families, public policy-makers and food marketers should support food consumption patterns that promote family meals.
Originality/value
While many food-related consumer studies focus on the individual, social and environmental influences of food choices of adolescents, few studies address how eating patterns affect overall well-being. These results reinforce the importance of understanding the effect of the social context of teenagers’ eating patterns on health and well-being.
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Hu Xie, Ann Veeck, Hongyan Yu and Hong Zhu
This paper aims to examine how emotions affect consumers' food choices and food preparation activities during stressful periods, using the context of the coronavirus disease 2019…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how emotions affect consumers' food choices and food preparation activities during stressful periods, using the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in China.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used an online survey, with a sample of 1,050 individuals from 32 regions in China. Multi-regression and mediation models were used to test the relationships among perceived knowledge, emotions and food behaviors.
Findings
The results show that positive emotions positively affect healthy food consumption and engagement in food preparations. In contrast, negative emotions contribute to an increase in indulgent food consumption and quick-and-easy meal preparations. Increased knowledge of the current situation can enhance positive emotions and thus promote healthy food behaviors. Lacking knowledge may result in unhealthy food behaviors through negative emotions.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the understanding of emotions and food behaviors by examining the effects of both negative and positive emotions in the general population, exploring a wider constellation of food behaviors and identifying perceived knowledge as an important antecedent to emotions' effects on food behaviors. Implications for consumers and public policy are offered.
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Ann Veeck, Fang Grace Yu, Hongyan Yu, Gregory Veeck and James W. Gentry
– This study aims to examine the major influences of food choices of Chinese teenagers within a dynamic food marketing environment.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the major influences of food choices of Chinese teenagers within a dynamic food marketing environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports findings from semi-structured interviews with high school students which examine teenagers’ guidelines for selecting food, along with their actual eating behavior.
Findings
The results reflect on how four major influences – personal, family, peer and retailer – may intersect to affect the eating behaviors of Chinese adolescents, as they navigate an intense education schedule during a time of rapidly changing cultural values. Different norms of food choice – nutrition, food safety, taste, body image, price, convenience, sharing, friendship and fun – are evoked according to the social context and concurrent activities of the teenagers.
Social implications
The findings offer tentative insights related to the potential for promoting healthier eating habits for adolescents in urban areas of China.
Originality/value
The study demonstrates how, within this rapidly changing food environment, food retailers are creating alliances with teenagers to meet needs of convenience, speed, taste and social interaction.
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Hongyan Yu, Ann Veeck and Fang (Grace) Yu
This study aims to, with family structures in urban China becoming increasingly diverse, examine how and to what extent the characteristics of everyday family meals relate to the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to, with family structures in urban China becoming increasingly diverse, examine how and to what extent the characteristics of everyday family meals relate to the establishment and strengthening of a collective sense of the Chinese family. Integrating ritual and family identity theories developed through studies conducted in the West, the research explores the relationship between family identity and the major dimensions that characterize ritualistic practices through an examination of family dinners in a non-Western context.
Design/methodology/approach
The mixed-method approach combines a qualitative phase (focus groups and interviews) with a large-scale survey of households (n = 1,319) in four Chinese cities.
Findings
The results find a positive relationship between family identity and commitment to family meals, as well as continuity promoted through family meals, at a 99 per cent confidence level.
Research limitations/implications
One important research limitation is that the sample was limited to four cities. In addition, it is difficult for quantitative measures to capture the richness of emotionally and symbolically laden constructs, such as communication, commitment, continuity and family identity.
Practical implications
The results provide insights into the meanings of family meals in China. With over one-third of household expenditures spent on food in Chinese cities, the formulation of brand positions and promotions can be informed through a greater understanding of the influence of family dynamics on food consumption.
Social implications
The findings indicate that, within China’s dynamic environment of changing family values, strengthening the ritualistic characteristics of everyday family activities, such as family meals, can lead to an increase in a collective sense of family.
Originality/value
The study demonstrates under what conditions, within this rapidly changing socioeconomic environment, the family dinner provides stability and a sense of unity for Chinese families. In China, a trend toward individualization is accompanied by a deep-seeded sense of obligation toward family that exerts an important influence on meal composition and patterns.
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Robert L. Harrison, Ann Veeck and James W. Gentry
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to describe and evaluate the life grid as a methodology for historical research; and to provide an example application investigating the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to describe and evaluate the life grid as a methodology for historical research; and to provide an example application investigating the dynamics of family meals over a lifetime by pairing life course theory with the life grid method of obtaining oral histories.
Design/methodology/approach
To explore how the meanings and processes of meals change, the authors conducted interviews with 15 respondents aged 80 years old and over, on the topic of family meals.
Findings
The paper discusses the merits of using the life grid method to analyze lifetime family consumption behavior. The findings of this example study provide insight as to how the roles, responsibilities, and loyalties of our participants had changed through births, deaths, marriages, wars, economic periods, illnesses, and the process of aging, leading to changes in dining.
Originality/value
The benefit of the life grid method described in this paper is its ability to minimize recall bias. In addition, the overt process of cross‐referencing events throughout the course of the interviews via the life grid method proved to be a helpful aid in identifying patterns and symmetries during the interpretation stage.
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Yuri Seo, Angela Gracia B. Cruz and Kim-Shyan Fam
– The purpose of this paper is to identify a need to incorporate Asian perspectives in theories of food consumption and marketing.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify a need to incorporate Asian perspectives in theories of food consumption and marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
This editorial discusses the mutually recursive relationship between food and culture in Asian markets, offers an integrative summary of the special issue and develops several key themes for future research.
Findings
Food consumption plays a central role within Asian cultures and markets. Thus, understanding Asian perspectives and contexts provides an important complement and contrast to current theories of food consumption and marketing that have been primarily sited in North American and European contexts. In particular, the complex multiplicity of Asian consumer cultures creates dynamic heterogeneity within Asian food markets.
Research limitations/implications
Although food consumption plays a central role in Asian consumer cultures, extant theory regarding Asian food consumption and marketing is still in its infancy. We highlight important developments in this area that suggest a path for future work.
Originality/value
The authors make three contributions to the literature on food consumption and marketing. First, while engaging with these questions, this issue points to the importance of Asian cultural perspectives into the marketing literature on food consumption. Second, through the articles of this special issue, we trace the relationships between food consumption practices, marketing practices and cultural multiplicity in Asian contexts. Finally, we draw the threads together to provide directions for future research in this area.
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Monica Chaudhary and Aayushi Gupta
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to categorize and rank products based on children's influence and to compare their influence on the different stages of the family buying…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to categorize and rank products based on children's influence and to compare their influence on the different stages of the family buying process.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was based on an extensive literature review and focus group discussions. Using a structured questionnaire, a survey was conducted with children aged 8‐12 years. The sample size was 175.
Findings
Factor analysis revealed three distinct product clusters: “loud”, “noisy” and “quiet” goods. Children's influence was found to be highest for noisy goods, lesser for loud goods and lowest for quiet goods. One‐way MANOVA analysis found that for loud and noisy goods children's influence was highest in the initiation stage, and lowest in the search stage. For quiet goods, the highest influence was in the final decision stage followed by initiation and choice stage.
Practical implications
The identified product clusters and children's relative influence across the buying stages for these clusters are expected to enhance marketer's understanding of children's role in family decision making. Marketers should take these observations into consideration while designing and implementing their marketing strategies.
Originality/value
The results are important because previous studies have dealt with children's influence for various products at a broad level. In this paper, an innovative segmentation for products based on children's influence level has been identified and the influence measured across these clusters.
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Aron O’Cass and Kenny Lim
This study examines consumer brand associations, focusing on the differences between association held for western brands and eastern brands by young Singaporeans under the…
Abstract
This study examines consumer brand associations, focusing on the differences between association held for western brands and eastern brands by young Singaporeans under the country‐of‐origin umbrella. The study also examines consumer ethnocentric tendencies (CET), finding very low levels of ethnocentrism among respondents, and results indicate CET had no effect on brand preference or purchase intention.
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Suhail Mohammad Ghouse, Monica Chaudhary and Omar Durrah
This paper aims to identify the perception levels of the child and parents towards the child’s influence on different product categories and stages of the family buying process in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the perception levels of the child and parents towards the child’s influence on different product categories and stages of the family buying process in an Arab country Oman.
Design/methodology/approach
On the basis of the research gap identified from the literature, two separate bilingual questionnaires (parent and child) in English and local language (Arabic) were developed. The research commenced with a pilot study on 10 school students followed by contact with school authorities requesting to conduct a survey on school students 8–12 years of age and data collection through the survey on the students and their parents (either father/mother) during September-November, 2017–2018. Data analysis was made through an independent sample t-test and confirmatory factor analysis was made using AMOS 24.
Findings
A model was proposed incorporating three product categories as noisy, quiet and loud goods and perceptions of Arab parents and children were examined for the three stages of the family buying process. The findings of the study reveal that significant differences exist in child-parental perceptions on the child’s influence in the search, evaluation and final buying stages. The mean score among the three product categories was highest for noisy goods (Mean = 3.21, SD = 0.817) while in the case of buying stages, the mean of the final buying stage was highest (Mean = 2.11, SD = 0.514).
Research limitations/implications
More research studies are required in the Arab context, especially bringing in the social status of parents to justify their different shopping behaviours. This analysis is based on the perceptions of the tweenager segment, adding perceptions of the teenage segment could generate better research implications.
Practical implications
The research will serve as a base to consumer marketers in understanding distinct features of Arab tweenagers towards different products and will aid them in designing appropriate marketing strategies targeting parents and children in the Arab region.
Originality/value
After an extensive review of the consumer literature, it is assumed that almost no research study has been made examining parent-child perceptions towards the different product categories and buying stages targeting traditionally oriented families in the Arab region.
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