Essays on Consumer Purchase Decisions and Health and Nutrition Information on Functional Foods PDF Download

Author: Ratapol Teratanavat
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Consumer behavior
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Abstract: Functional foods have received increasing attention from consumers and food producers and manufacturers over the past years, yet few studies have examined economic and marketing issues that are related to foods with additional health benefits beyond basic nutrients. This dissertation consists of three papers that employ different techniques to understand consumer behavior in this domain. The first essay applies a choice experiment to examine consumer valuation of various attributes of functional foods, using a statewide mail survey. Results indicate that consumers place positive value on health benefits and ingredient naturalness. Moreover, they are willing to pay higher prices for products having these attributes. The data also reveal that taste preferences tend to vary across consumers. Individual characteristics that tend to affect preferences include age, education, and income level. Past purchase behavior for functional foods, organic foods, and natural foods also has significant influence on preferences. The second essay uses the Elaboration Likelihood Model as a theoretical framework to understand the role of health claims in consumer assessment of products. Previous research and theory related to the role of health claims in persuasive messages has portrayed health claims as having little effect on consumers' attitudes. The present research, however, suggests this conclusion may be premature. A new conceptualization of the role of health claims in persuasion is proposed. Practical significance of the laboratory studies is discussed in light of recent changes in product design as well as changes in FDA rules regarding label claims. The third essay focuses on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s recently amended policy on food labeling. This policy allows different qualified levels of health claims on product labels, based on the strength of scientific evidence supporting the claims. This essay examines whether consumers understand and can differentiate between these qualified health claims. Results show that people do not perceive significant differences between the different levels of qualified claims. An additional experiment suggests that a visual aid may be an important device to help consumers understand the scientific basis supporting a claim.