Search results

The evening meal is an important, regular event in the lives of many people and its daily practices lead consumers to develop habits that determine their food choices. The objective of the present work is to further investigate how consumers make choices by determining the stages as well as the content of the family's daily food (i.e. seafood and meat‐related) decision‐making process.

Twenty‐four families in Denmark, Norway and Iceland were asked to fill in a one‐to‐two‐week semi‐structured diary regarding any thoughts they had about the decision‐making sequence regarding their evening meals. Data were analysed by means of content analysis so as to gain insight into the main themes and distinctive patterns with respect to the four stages of the decision‐making sequence by identifying a number of codes and sub‐codes of high and lower abstraction level.

The main results were similar across the three countries. Planning was the most important phase of the evening meal decision‐making sequence, where Nordic respondents considered practical issues, and engaged in a more rational type of thinking, allowing cognitive aspects to prevail at this particular stage. The presence of rational thoughts was repeated in the successive stages of purchasing, whereas affective thoughts were elicited mainly during the later stages of preparation and consumption. Furthermore, the comparison of seafood and meat as choices that complied with respondents' demands and expectations revealed that the two food types were perceived as substitutes for each other; however, meat was considered a choice that respondents felt more confident with in terms of pre‐ and post‐purchasing experience.

This paper offers substantial insights into the factors that influence the decision making process, as well as the importance that consumers assign to those factors across most stages of the decision making process. This valuable, in‐depth information can only be collected by using qualitative methods such as the present diaries. Gaining insights into the factors that influence various stages of the evening meal decision‐making process enables researchers to identify the importance that consumers assign to cognitive and affective factors across the food provisioning stages for a variety of food products (including seafood).

This paper aims to examine how consumers make choices when they are faced with a fixed set of available options, consisting of both preferred and less-preferred choices, in the domain of food consumption. Specifically, the paper offers a novel perspective to predict repeated choice decisions in food consumption, which is termed as “pattern-seeking” – a consumption choice pattern that involves a coherent repetitive sequence of sub-groupings or coherently concentrated sub-groupings of options.

Eight experimental studies that contrast the existing theoretical predictions regarding repeated choices (e.g. primacy effect, recency effect, variety vs consistency) against pattern-seeking were conducted using hypothetical and actual food choices.

The results of experimental studies show that an explicit decision pattern (i.e. pattern-seeking) emerges as the most significant predictor of repeated choice in the food consumption domain.

This study offers a novel perspective on how consumers make repeated choices in the domain of food consumption.

The results show that consumers prefer food consumption with a pattern (vs non-pattern). Thus, it would be better to generate marketing activities that allow customers to satisfy their pattern-seeking more easily.

This study advances the literature on repeated food choices by demonstrating that people possess an inherent preference for patterns in food consumption.

Briefly reviews previous literature by the author before presenting an original 12 step system integration protocol designed to ensure the success of companies or countries in their efforts to develop and market new products. Looks at the issues from different strategic levels such as corporate, international, military and economic. Presents 31 case studies, including the success of Japan in microchips to the failure of Xerox to sell its invention of the Alto personal computer 3 years before Apple: from the success in DNA and Superconductor research to the success of Sunbeam in inventing and marketing food processors: and from the daring invention and production of atomic energy for survival to the successes of sewing machine inventor Howe in co‐operating on patents to compete in markets. Includes 306 questions and answers in order to qualify concepts introduced.

This study aims to reveal the implications that trust, as a key driver of consumer behaviour, might have on consumer acceptance of front-of-pack labels (FOPLs) and policy effectiveness. By conducting three studies on 1956 European consumers with different levels of exposure to FOPLs, this study offers additional theoretical and experimental support through a deep investigation of the central role of trust in consumers’ decision-making towards healthier and more informed food choices.

Study 1 used structural equation modelling to assess whether trust is a relevant mediator of the relationship between attitude and behavioural intention (BI), thus upgrading the front-of-pack acceptance model (FOPAM); Study 2 tested the model by comparing two labels at the extremes of the current European scheme (NutrInform Battery [NiB], Nutri-Score [NS]); Study 3 assessed the effect in cases where the connection between trust and algorithms is made transparent and evaluated trust dimensions, focusing on the perception of an algorithm presence behind FOPLs information.

Study 1 strengthens the FOPAM model with the mediating role of trust in FOPLs, demonstrating a positive effect of attitude on trust and, in turn, on BI, and resulting in a higher model fit with all the significant relationships; Study 2 revealed that the relative performance of the different labels on the FOPAM can be explained by the trust dimension; Study 3, investigating the dynamics of trust in the FOPAM, revealed that the NS is less effective than the NiB on attitude, BI and trust.

The sample was limited to Italian, French and English respondents, and two labels at the extreme of the spectrum were examined. Furthermore, the research has relevance to the issue of trust. Other moderators used in previous studies on technology acceptance model, such as actual use versus perceptual use, user experience level or type of users and type of use might be investigated.

The investigation of trust, with the upgrade of FOPAM, enhances understanding of consumers’ decision-making processes when aided by food labels and makes a new contribution to the European Union “Inception Impact Assessment” in preparation for the finalization of the “From-Farm-to-Fork Strategy”, providing new insights into the role of trust by assessing the relative performance of FOPLs in consumers’ acceptance of food-related information. Furthermore, this study revealed that consumers’ perception of FOPLs worsens when they realize that they are the result of an algorithmic calculation. Finally, the new FOPAM represents a reliable theoretical model for future research on FOPL.

This study increases the knowledge about the performance of different FOPLs on several dimensions of food decision-making, positions the upgraded FOPAM as a valid alternative to existing theoretical models to assess the relative performance of labels, also extending the literature in the context of algorithm-based FOPL, and could be used as a valid support to policymakers and industry experts in their decision towards a unified label at European level.

The paper investigates the role of social networks in the millennials’ decision-making process of illegal and unnotified food supplements purchase. The connections and interactions that (co) produce information are studied with a holistic perspective of social sustainability as a development driver of business model innovation.

An exploratory qualitative multiple analysis study was conducted in two consecutive phases. Data from 23 semi-structured individual interviews were collected, followed by a netnographic analysis of the Facebook virtual community.

The results show that the decision-making process does not develop following the traditional sequence, as social networks modify the wellness meaning creation process and reduce risk perception. Moreover, social networks introduce the use of similar experiences of others and online information and emotional support on unethical and unhealthy behavior.

Due to the application to a social network, the results should be understood within this context. Future studies would benefit by expanding the target and the range of social networks explored.

The official information quality control, as a prerogative of public and professional health stakeholders, and the medialization of medicalization, contribute to the conscious development of their wellness meanings and values.

This work represents one of the first attempts to investigate resources integration through social networks in the pre-purchase decision-making process of unnotified and illegal food supplements. Unethical and unhealthy behavior develops through the interaction of actors, firms, influencers and individuals over social networks.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinant factors that influence the purchase intention of fish by Indonesians, especially in 14 provinces with low fish consumption rates.

The survey was conducted with a total of 307 respondents in West Sumatra, Jambi, Bengkulu, Lampung, DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, Special Region of Yogyakarta, East Java, Banten, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara and West Borneo. The factors measured and analyzed are product, individual and environmental characteristics while partial least square is used to analyze the data.

The factors influencing the purchase intention of fish by Indonesians include product, individual and environmental characteristics. Not surprisingly, environmental characteristics were cited by most respondents.

This is the first study on the factors which influence the purchase of fish by Indonesians, in a country with a high rate of fish production, but a low rate of consumption. Findings are relevant to support the “Gemarikan Program” (Program to Promote Fish Eating) by The Indonesia Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries.

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in make-to-stock and make-to-order combined strategies in food manufacturing operations. However, most scholarly work to-date has neglected the role of hierarchical production planning (HPP) in guiding small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) implementation of such strategies. The purpose of this paper is to address food SME manufacturers’ readiness to adopt such strategies, in terms of internal integration and their capability to adopt formalised planning approaches.

This study adopted an action research methodology to explore the potential impact of HPP in SME food manufacturers. Selected companies had identified product variety management as a challenge and also had recognised the need to enhance internal integration. Given this, the research team, from a theoretical perspective, proposed the use of HPP set within a broader decision-making conceptual framework to improve internal integration and planning.

This paper adopts the fundamental position that HPP provides a useful framework in the establishment of strategic and tactical level constraints and priorities which then act as specific guides at the operational level, and presents empirical evidence in a food SME manufacturing context. In the cases the authors studies, the cascading effect of this decision-making framework focused attention on key metrics, encouraged greater internal integration and delivered tangible, significant improvements in performance. This was greatly facilitated by the provision of new key data on the cost of certain managerial trade-offs which these firms faced.

SMEs are of a scale that requires a formalised planning approach; however production planning systems are typically designed for large scale enterprises. This paper addresses the need of SMEs in this regard. Well-established supply chain metrics were used to establish the benefits of both HPP and resulting improvement in internal integration and beyond, in terms of improvement in the quality of planning decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to studies of family decision making during food buying. In particular a theoretical framework is proposed for structuring future studies of family decision making that include children's influence and participation at specific stages of the process.

The conceptual framework is developed on the basis of earlier theoretical work focused on family shopping as well as an ethnographic study of parents and children. The framework was refined after testing in a survey with 451 Danish families with children aged ten to 13 using questionnaires for both children and parents.

Family food decision making is often a joint activity, and children's active participation, among other things, determines the influence they gain. Parents and children do not always agree on how much influence children have in the various stages of the process, indicating the importance of listening to both parties in research into the family dynamics and processes involved in everyday food buying.

Future research should further extend the knowledge about the areas where children have influence, about the techniques used by children to achieve influence, and more about those factors that explain when they gain influence.

Marketers can benefit from the findings when promoting food products to adults as well as to children. Specifically, the findings suggest that children have most influence on decisions regarding easily prepared meals.

This mixed‐method approach provides interesting new results, and the main findings emphasise the importance of looking at food decision making as a joint activity where children participate actively and gain influence.

Through application of multi-level structural equation modeling as the data analysis technique, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the group-level impacts on a couple’s food choices during travel at a coastal destination.

Researchers obtained 380 individual questionnaires from 190 mixed gender couples (who eat oysters) in Charleston and Beaufort County, South Carolina, USA. Data were collected from both members of the couple during their vacation. Due to missing data and normality issues 5 couples and 30 individuals were eliminated. The remaining data were analyzed with SPSS 21 and EQS 6.2 with advanced confirmatory factor analysis and multi-level (ML) regression techniques.

The study results indicated that while women have a more negative attitude than men toward oysters, their intention to eat oysters during vacation is not different from their partner. By detecting the interdependency of responses of individuals within a couple, this study revealed that a ML approach is a more powerful way to understand the decision-making process of couples. Additionally the difference in the results of single- and ML models showed that the latter approach lowers the chance of Type 2 error and provides more accurate results.

In tourism decision-making literature, the focus has been mostly on the individual despite the collectivistic nature of tourism activity. The current study is the first to analyze a couple’s decision-making process at the group level. Furthermore by collecting data from both members of the group during their vacation, this study has distinguished itself from previous studies.

This study aims to explore the commonalities and differences of corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions among business leaders in Oman and Lebanon, two Middle Eastern countries forming a comparative dyad with a high level of cultural variance within the Arab cluster.

Semi-structured interviews were used to elicit qualitative data that were analyzed by means of multilevel analysis.

The findings provide empirical evidence that CSR is a powerful factor in managerial decision-making in the Middle East with the national cultures of Oman and Lebanon exerting partially differing effects on CSR decision-making.

The study enlightens practicing managers and policymakers in terms of the salience of multiple actors’ influence on CSR decision-making processes and the responses they may receive when developing and implementing CSR initiatives in the Middle East.

The study proposes a seven nodal model, which captures the flow of CSR decision-making in the research contexts.