Search results

Purpose: Consumer acceptance is considered the most important factor in functional food success and is given top priority in new product development. This study focussed on finding factors that influence consumer perceptions about active food and the pattern of active food consumption. This chapter aims to provide a deeper understanding of taste trading based on a consumer decision-making framework.

Research Methodology: Cross-sectional consumer data were collected by floating G-Doc containing the questionnaire which was supposed to be answered by people according to their behaviours, preferences, knowledge regarding functional foods etc. It contained questions about their income, gender, preference towards functional foods, factors affecting decision-making while purchasing functional foods etc.

Results of the Study: The findings suggest that the consumers' attitude towards functional foods was mainly influenced by the quality and suitability of the product. Purchase intent was found based on age, literacy of population, income and health benefits of active foods. Awareness of functional foods and their price significantly affected the purchase of functional foods. Most people were willing to spend more on functional foods in the future regardless of the taste and provided high quality and product suitability.

This study explores the socio-demographic and psychological factors influencing pro-environmental behavior among Generation Z individuals. Aimed at deciphering the impact of socio-demographic characteristics on psychological drivers and identifying significant psychological factors affecting pro-environmental behavior, the research utilizes an inductive approach with a sample of 225 Generation Z members from Splitsko-Dalmatia County, Croatia. Data were collected via an online questionnaire focusing on attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors related to the environment. Findings reveal that gender, education level, and residential area significantly influence psychological drivers such as guilt, moral obligations, and self-identity, with women, individuals with higher education levels, and those residing in suburban areas exhibiting higher levels of these drivers. This study contributes to the understanding of pro-environmental behavior in Generation Z by highlighting the importance of socio-demographic variables and psychological factors, thus offering insights for promoting sustainable behaviors among this demographic.

Purpose — Study the causal effect of psychological factors on mode choice, using an instrument which gathered attitudinal, affective and habitual behaviour factors, with an application to a Canadian and Chilean sample.

Approach — Ad hoc questionnaire used to collect information related to psychological factors, studying the role of these factors upon mode choice using structural equation modelling, combining a measurement model and the latent variables.

Findings — Emotional (affective) factors have a strong influence on mode choice, as well as attitudinal and habitual factors. Car users have a strong positive emotion to the transport mode they use when compared with public transport users and transit utilization.

Research limitations — The inclusion of social factors, such as norm, role and self-concept, is desirable for a better understanding of people's behaviour regarding transport mode usage. The structural equation modelling was used to analyse the causal effects among factors, but it is not intended to model mode choice. An advanced approach would be to estimate a hybrid discrete choice model.

Practical implications — Realizing the real importance of personal psychological factors on mode choice is a key issue when intending to implement mobility and travel demand management strategies. The success of these strategies strongly relies on people's change of behaviour, which does not depend only on instrumental and socio-demographic factors, such as cost, time and income, but also on these very inner personal aspects.

Originality/value — Capture psychological factors through a comprehensive survey, which rests on a psychological framework and considers simultaneously attitudinal, affective and habitual personal factors, as well as instrumental and socio-demographic information. Make a comparison among cities belonging to different countries regarding the role of these factors, cities with a different cultural and social background.

Little research has been conducted regarding the disproportionate representation of minority learners in programs for students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders (E/BD). To date, the majority of the disproportionality literature examines multiple eligibility categories, most frequently the high incidence disabilities of Mild Intellectual Disabilities, E/BD, and Learning Disabilities. This chapter narrows analytical attention to a single category to add specificity and depth to disproportionality knowledge through a review of the E/BD literature between 2000 and 2010. Of the 16 studies reviewed, we found 11 socio-demographic, quantitative studies that analyzed E/BD special education placement patterns or office discipline referrals for students with E/BD. Two quantitative studies explored ecological conceptualizations of behavioral problems to understand interactions between institutions' special education eligibility processes, and socio-cultural and spatial contexts of schools. Finally, we located three studies that targeted families' perceptions of student behavior, and professionals' biases related to disproportionality. We conclude with reflections about what the current literature suggests as necessary for the next generation of research on this important topic.

Football is a popular sport among young people across Africa, incited by the heavy presence of European football that has become central to youth cultures, everyday social routines, forms of consumption and opportunities for establishing social status. A growing body of evidence suggests increasing trends in harmful gambling behaviours in African youth, while the proliferation of football betting particularly remains a critical potential risk for negative mental health outcomes among young people in Sub-Saharan Africa. This chapter draws on original empirical data from a web-based cross-sectional survey to examine the prevalence estimates and associations of socio-demographic and behavioural factors with football betting among young adults attending university in Ghana. It draws on a multivariable logistic regression model to assess the associations with football betting. Our findings point not only to the growing salience of football betting among male demographics, but also the role of peer culture, alcohol and media as predominant sources of participants' initiation of football betting. Moreover, participants indicated the motive ‘to make money’ as their single major motivation, which raises the prospect that football betting is used as a means to mitigate the adverse effects of unemployment. Overall, the study points to a need for harm prevention strategies that align more closely with public health approaches focused on students, their families, their communities and their universities/schools.

This paper identifies patterns of online stratification based on cultural values and beliefs among internet users in Britain.

Using a nationally representative random sample of respondents from the 2013 Oxford Internet Survey, we identify groups of individuals who share beliefs about the internet.

Each group represents a distinctive cultural perspective on the internet: e-mersives are fully at home in and positive about the digital environment; techno-pragmatists use the internet for instrumental and work-related purposes; the cyber-savvy use all aspects of the internet, but are also primed to be aware of online risks; cyber-moderates are blasé, neither strongly positive nor negative about the internet; and adigitals harbor overwhelmingly negative beliefs and attitudes about the internet. These cultures are largely unrelated to socio-demographic factors, but appear to be shaped by experience online and general dispositions toward learning, and have major implications for patterns of internet use.

These cultures of the internet are significant because they suggest that stratification online is strongly influenced by cultural values and meaning because they influence social mobility, skill development, and digital choice.

This chapter examines the emotional labor of food provisioning for women engaged in local food systems (LFSs), and considers how socio-demographic factors influence the emotional labor of food provisioning for women engaged in LFSs.

Qualitative data was used for analysis, and was gathered through in-depth interviews with 43 women across the state of Ohio who expressed concern with the agrifood system, but engaged in varied levels of LFS participation.

Results confirm that women engaged in LFSs experience heightened emotional labor in food provisioning. Showing care to family, community and the environment, transmitting values, sharing cultural traditions, and demonstrating skill were related to positive emotions that were heightened by LFS engagement. Women with higher incomes, those with partners and children, and those who were not employed were more likely to report these positive emotions associated with food provisioning.

Negative emotions associated with food provisioning were also heightened by LFS engagement. Women reported that LFS engagement heightened their sense of demand, burden, stress, and guilt with food provisioning. Low-income women, employed women, younger women, and women with children were more likely to report negative feelings connected with food provisioning.

This research helps fill a gap in existing literature and encourages agrifood scholars and LFS proponents to acknowledge the fact that women engaged in LFSs are performing significant emotional carework in their food provisioning. This research also confirms that considering intersectionality can be important to understanding the sphere of consumption in agrifood studies.