Tasteful brands:products of brands perceived to be warm and competent taste subjectively better

Using survey and experimental data, the present research examines the effect of brand perception on experienced taste. The content of brand perception can be organized along the two social perception dimensions of warmth and competence. We use these two dimensions to systematically investigate the influence of brand perception on experienced taste and consumer behavior toward food products. The brand’s perceived warmth and competence independently influenced taste, both when it was measured as a belief and as an embodied experience following consumption. Taste mediated the link between brand’s warmth and competence perceptions and three consumer behavioral tendencies crucial for the marketing success of brands: buying intentions, brand loyalty, and support for the brand

Social transmission and shared reality in cultural dynamics

Preparation for this manuscript was facilitated by grants from the Australian Research Council (DP160102226 and DP160102231) to YK.Micro cultural dynamics are concerned with the mechanisms of transmission, retention, and modification of cultural information in social networks. When interacting individuals mutually recognize that they share psychological reactions to given cultural information, it may be grounded as an aspect of their shared reality under specifiable conditions. The interpretation of cultural information as socially verified shared reality provides a basis for further dissemination of the information and coordinated social action. We review the recent literature that supports this general contention, while highlighting the role of emotion – a somewhat under-recognized aspect of shared reality research – and emphasizing the mediating role of cultural dynamics in the mutual constitution of social reality and shared reality.PostprintPeer reviewe

Savouring morality:moral satisfaction renders food of ethical origin subjectively tastier

Past research has shown that the experience of taste can be influenced by a range of external cues, especially when they concern food's quality. The present research examined whether food's ethicality – a cue typically unrelated to quality – can also influence taste. We hypothesised that moral satisfaction with the consumption of ethical food would positively influence taste expectations, which in turn will enhance the actual taste experience. This enhanced taste experience was further hypothesised to act as a possible reward mechanism reinforcing the purchase of ethical food. The resulting ethical food-> moral satisfaction-> enhanced taste expectations and experience-> stronger intentions to buy/willingness to pay model was validated across four studies: one large scale international survey (Study 1) and three experimental studies involving actual food consumption of different type of ethical origin - organic (Study 2), fair trade (Study 3a) and locally produced (Study 3b). Furthermore, endorsement of values relevant to the food's ethical origin moderated the effect of food's origin on moral satisfaction, suggesting that the model is primarily supported for people who endorse these values

A systematic review of psychosocial explanations for the relationship between socioeconomic status and Body Mass Index

This work was supported by a grant of the Walloon Region (Belgium, FOOD4GUT, project #1318148).A negative association between socioeconomic status (SES) and levels of overweight/obesity is consistently found in high- and middle-income countries. Yet, there is little conclusive evidence about the mechanisms driving this association. In this systematic review, we discuss and compare the results of 22 studies that examine the role of psychosocial mediators in the association between lower SES and BMI in diverse population samples. These include factors related to resources and constraints in one’s external neighborhood, social resources, and psychological factors such as stress. The findings support theoretical models indicating that SES influences BMI partially through environmental and psychological factors. Importantly, SES remains a significant determinant of weight status, indicating the importance of also addressing structural antecedents in order to improve health among low-SES people. We thoroughly discuss the quality and limitations of current study designs and mediation testing and provide recommendations for future research.PostprintPeer reviewe

The ‘Saying-is-Repeating’ effect: Dyadic communication can generate cultural stereotypes.

It has been long established that interpersonal communication underpins the existence of cultural stereotypes. However, research has either examined the formation of new or the maintenance of existing stereotypes. In a series of three studies, the present research bridges the gap between these phases by showing that newly formed stereotypes can spread through repeated dyadic communication with others. The stereotypic representation arose due to the audience tuning in to communication to a first audience. Further transmission to two types of subsequent audiences was simulated: a newcomer and an old-timer with an unknown attitude towards the target. A “saying-is-repeating” effect was obtained: the stereotypic representation was invariably transmitted to the newcomer, regardless of whether communicators personally believed in the bias; perceived group-level consensus moderated its transmission to the old-timer. These findings demonstrate that once a stereotypic representation is formed, it is likely to spread in a community and potentially become a cultural stereotype

Income inequality and fear of crime across the European region

This paper aims to take a holistic approach on studying fear of crime bytesting predictors at multiple levels of analyses. Data from the EuropeanSocial Survey (N = 56,752 from 29 countries) were used to test andextend the Income Inequality and Sense of Vulnerability Hypotheses. Thefindings confirm that (1) individuals in societies with greater incomeinequalities are more fearful of crime, and (2) older or disabled people aswell as women report greater fear of crime. Contrary to the hypotheses,ethnic majority and not ethnic minority members report greater fear ofcrime, if they reside in high income inequality countries. It is furtherdemonstrated that fear of crime explains the inverse association betweenincome inequality and subjective well-being in this particular subsample

Employee-owned businesses’ responses during the pandemic:economic, non-economic goal and democratic resilience and their link to ownership, control and benefit

Theoretically informed by the degeneration thesis and explored through the lens of Birchall’s tripartite concept of ownership, control and benefit, this paper investigates the resilience of employee-owned businesses during the pandemic. The originality of this paper lies in the novel incorporation of hybrid EOBs, disbenefit (in the form of debt burden), and length of employee ownership to Birchall’s model. Our findings indicate that firms with longer-standing employee ownership are characterised by lower levels of debt burden and tend to exhibit better economic resilience. Higher levels of ownership, on the other hand, are strongly and positively linked to both non-economic and democratic resilience, but there is no significant association between level of ownership and economic resilience. Taken together, our findings provide contemporary empirical evidence that supports Birchall’s assertion that employee ownership has “the potential to transform the meaning of ‘economic’ to include the social” (2012a: 70), but under certain conditions, suggesting important lessons for rebuilding more inclusive economies