The interplay between regulatory focus and temporal distance in the health context

Objectives: This study identifies how the interaction between temporal distance, regulatory focus, and framing of health outcomes affects individuals' intention to adopt a personalized nutrition service. Design: A 2 (temporal distance: immediate health outcomes vs. delayed health outcomes) × 2 (regulatory focus: prevention vs. promotion) × 2 (health outcome framing: illness prevention vs. health promotion) full-factorial between-subjects design. Methods: In two experiments with samples of 236 and 242 students, regulatory focus was manipulated by asking participants to describe which academic outcomes they want to either achieve or prevent and how they aim to do this. Temporal distance and health outcome framing were manipulated by modifying descriptions of personalized nutrition services. To study the process through which temporal distance, regulatory focus, and health outcome framing affect adoption intention, measures of perceived privacy risk and perceived personalization benefit were included as mediators. Results: The interaction between temporal distance and regulatory focus had a significant effect on adoption intention, perceived privacy risk, and perceived personalization benefit. For prevention-focused individuals' adoption intention was higher, perceived personalization benefit was higher, and perceived privacy risk was lower when health outcomes were immediate instead of delayed. These effects were not significant for promotion-focused individuals. Health outcome framing affected the interaction between temporal distance and regulatory focus, but only in Study 1. Only perceived personalization benefit served as a mediator. Conclusion: Tailoring temporal distance to individuals' regulatory focus increases adoption intention for personalized nutrition advice. Statement of contribution: What is already known on this subject? Intention to adopt dietary recommendations results from a cognitive decision-making process. Regulatory focus and temporal distance are relevant for the adoption of dietary recommendations. Temporal distance and regulatory focus are interrelated. What does this study add? The interaction between temporal distance and regulatory focus affects adoption intention. Interaction between temporal distance and regulatory focus moderates the cognitive process that drives adoption.</p

Association between nutrition self-efficacy, health locus of control and food choice motives in consumers in nine European countries

We investigated associations between food choice motives and psychological determinants of dietary health behaviour change (nutrition self-efficacy, NS-E, and health locus of control, HLoC) among 9381 participants (18 to 65 years, 49.4% females) from nine European countries. Price was the highest rated food choice motive. Higher importance of all motives was associated with higher NS-E and with higher Internal HLoC. Relationships between food choice motives and External HLoC were also in the expected direction in showing negative associations with Health, Natural Content, Weight Control, Mood and Sensory Appeal. Higher External HLoC was also associated with perceived greater importance of ‘external’ motives Ethical Concern, Familiarity and Convenience. Relationships between External HLoC and food choice motives were not all in the expected direction. Price was unrelated to External HLoC. Females rated the importance of all motives higher than males. People with less education ascribed greater importance to Price in motivating food choices. Together, these findings imply that self-efficacy and health locus of control should be considered along with motivations for food choice in dietary health promotion

Barriers to using consumer science information in food technology innovations: An exploratory study using Delphi methodology

Food technology innovation has the potential to deliver many benefits to society, although some technologies have been problematic in terms of public acceptance. In promoting the commercial success of innovative technological processes and resultant products it will be important to incorporate information relating to consumer preferences and concerns during their development. The barriers to the utilisation of consumer information during technological development was explored using a two round Delphi study involving 75 experts with an interest in new food technology (food technologists and consumer scientists). There was overall agreement that consumer information should be used in technology implementation and product design, and that good communication between key actors at pivotal stages during the development of new food technologies and products was important. However disciplinary differences were perceived to be a barrier to communication, as were difficulties associated with producing consumer information usable by food technologists. A strategy to improve inter-disciplinary communication is proposed, involving the creation of multi-disciplinary teams working together throughout the development project's duration, including those with interdisciplinary experience. Deficiencies in the specification of the information required from consumer scientists need to be overcome. Consumer science results need to be concrete and presented as salient to and usable by food technologists

Extrapolating understanding of food risk perceptions to emerging food safety cases

Important determinants of risk perceptions associated with foods are the extent to which the potential hazards are perceived to have technological or naturally occurring origins, together with the acute vs. chronic dimension in which the potential hazard is presented (acute or chronic). This study presents a case study analysis based on an extensive literature review examining how these hazard characteristics affect people’s risk and benefit perceptions, and associated attitudes and behaviors. The cases include E. coli incidences (outbreaks linked to fresh spinach and fenugreek sprouts), contamination of fish by environmental pollutants, (organochlorine contaminants in farmed salmon), radioactive contamination of food following a nuclear accident (the Fukushima accident in Japan), and GM salmon destined for the human food chain. The analysis of the cases over the acute vs. chronic dimension suggests that longitudinal quantification of the relationship between risk perceptions and impacts is important for both acute and chronic food safety, but this has infrequently been applied to chronic hazards. Technologies applied to food production tend to potentially be associated with higher levels of risk perception, linked to perceptions that the risk is unnatural. However, for some risks (e.g. those involving biological irreversibility), moral or ethical concerns may be more important determinants of consumer responses than risk or benefit perceptions. (Lack of) trust has been highlighted in all of the cases suggesting transparent and honest risk–benefit communications following the occurrence of a food safety incident. Implications for optimizing associated risk communication strategies, additional research linking risk perception, and other quantitative measures, including comparisons in time and space, are suggested

All insects are equal, but some insects are more equal than others

Purpose: Lack of acceptance of insects as food is considered a barrier against societal adoption of the potentially valuable contribution of insects to human foods. An underlying barrier may be that insects are lumped together as one group, while consumers typically try specific insects. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which Dutch consumers, with and without insect tasting experience, are more or less willing to eat different insects. Design/methodology/approach: In a quasi-experimental study (n=140), the participants with and without prior experience in eating insects were asked to give their willingness to eat a range of insects, and their attitudes and disgust towards eating insects. Findings: Insects promoted in the market were more preferred than the less marketed insects, and a subgroup of preferred insects for participants with experience in eating insects was formed. Research limitations/implications: Although well-known insects were more preferred, general willingness to eat remained low for all participants. The results indicate that in future research on insects as food the specific insects used should be taken into account. Practical implications: Continued promotion of specific, carefully targeted, insects may not lead to short-term uptake of insects as food, but may contribute to willingness to eat insects as human food in the long term. Originality/value: The paper shows substantial differences between consumers who have and who have not previously tasted insects, with higher acceptance of people with experience in tasting insects for the specific insects that are frequently promoted beyond their generally more positive attitude towards eating insects

Consumer attitudes towards nanotechnology in food products : an attribute-based analysis

Purpose – Nanotechnology is a technology that holds much promise for food production. It is, however not clear to what extent consumers will accept different types of nanotechnologies in food products. The purpose of this paper is to research consumer attitudes towards differing applications of food nanotechnologies. Design/methodology/approach – Using an attribute-based approach, the authors compare a product with three different nanotechnology application types (during production, implemented in packaging and as additive to the food) with the same product without any nanotechnology attributes. Findings – Adding a nanotechnology attribute is shown to contribute to the overall product attitude, without substantially affecting the contribution of the other product attributes to overall product attitude. There are no indications that nanotechnology provides a non-compensatory barrier against acceptance. Risk perception increased for applications proximate to consumers while benefits remained similar across conditions. Practical implications – Low-distance applications (e.g. nano-additives that enter the body) are perceived as riskier, but not necessarily more beneficial, implying they will be rejected more readily by consumers. Food producers should primarily focus on reducing consumers’ risk perceptions of nanotechnologies and providing (and communicating clearly) the end-user benefits obtained from the technology. Originality/value – This study shows that introducing nanotechnology into a product has an almost uniquely additive contribution to attitude. The study aimed at relevant nanotechnology applications for food products, as opposed to general attitudes towards technologies. The study also confirms in an experimental setting earlier exploratory findings that food applications closer to the end user are less acceptable and provides a case for nanotechnology food innovations

Paradoxical consumers in four European countries : Meat-eating justification and willingness to pay for meat from animals treated by alternatives to surgical castration

To prevent boar taint, male piglets are commonly castrated without pain relief, causing them tremendous pain. There are, however, three alternatives, all of which have pros and cons: (1) surgical castration (SC) with pain relief, which removes boar taint but involves extra work for farmers and veterinarians; (2) raising non-castrated or entire male pigs (EM) in combination with a boar-taint detection method; and (3) immuno-castration (IC) by vaccination, which can lower the risk of boar taint acquired from GnRH pulses, but there are concerns about consumer response. The successful marketing of products from animals treated by alternatives to conventional castration depends on consumer acceptance. The current study (involving 3574 participants from Belgium, France, Spain, and Poland) aims to determine whether consumers' willingness to pay for meat from animals treated by alternatives depends on their attitude towards pork, attitude towards local ways of farming, and knowledge of animal welfare. We interpret these in the context of a meat-related moral dilemma and further investigate whether consumers resolve the moral dilemma by applying meat-eating-justification (i.e., apologetic or unapologetic) strategies. The results show that participants are least willing to pay for pork from castrates without pain relief. Willingness to pay for IC pork scores highest, followed by EM. Some consumer groups used an apologetic strategy to reduce the dissonance between moral dilemma and willingness to pay for meat from SC castrates. For the European market, it appears therefore feasible to market pork produced using IC or EM methods

Consumer moral dilemma in the choice of animal-friendly meat products

More and more consumers, at least in Western developed countries, are attentive to the sustainability aspects of their food, one of which concerns animal welfare. The conflict of harming an animal for the joy of eating meat causes a moral dilemma, affecting consumers' reactions to, and choices of, animal-friendly products. This systematic review identified 86 studies from Scopus andWeb of Science. The review outlines: (1) What are the personal antecedents among consumers regarding moral conflicts?; (2) In what situation do moral conflicts occur in consumer food choice?; (3) How do consumers emotionally experience the moral dilemma?; (4) How do consumers resolve moral conflicts over animal products? Researchers have studied personal factors and situational factors that arouse consumers' moral dilemma and how the dilemma is solved, during which emotions and dissonance come into play. When synthesizing these findings into a comprehensive model, we notice that the current research is lacking on how personal factors change and interact with situations, which limits the understanding of the real-life context of consumers' moral dilemma as well as their choices of animal-friendly products. More in-depth studies are needed to find situational factors that contribute to this complex psychological process

Everyday behaviour and everyday risk: An approach to study people's responses to frequently encountered food related health risks

Food consumption constitutes behaviour that is carried out on a daily basis. The risks and benefits associated with such behaviours are often small, and the time and effort people are, consequently, willing to invest in behavioural decisions are limited. Instead, experience, in the form of an integrated evaluation of past behaviours, may serve as a predictor for future behaviour, allowing reasonable choices to be made with limited effort. This paper discusses the characteristics of daily occurring risks and suggests a model of how prior experience can accumulate and play a role in acting while exposed to daily risk. The core of the approach is a feedback loop that adjusts the current situation until a preset situation is reached. This is based on integrated past experiences and is, thus, continually updated by new experiences. To establish such a feedback mechanism, emotions are argued to play a vital role as an integrator for different types of information, such as perceptual, cognitive and physiological information. This approach may help in understanding how consumers deal with risks in daily (food-handling) practices

The moderating effect of motivation on health-related decision-making

Objective: This study identifies how autonomous and controlled motivation moderates the cognitive process that drives the adoption of personalised nutrition services. The cognitive process comprises perceptions of privacy risk, personalisation benefit, and their determinants. Design: Depending on their level of autonomous and controlled motivation, participants (N = 3453) were assigned to one of four motivational orientations, which resulted in a 2 (low/high autonomous motivation) × 2 (low/high controlled motivation) quasi-experimental design. Results: High levels of autonomous motivation strengthened the extent to which: (1) the benefits of engaging with a service determined the outcome of a risk-benefit trade-off; (2) the effectiveness of a service determined benefit perceptions. High levels of controlled motivation influenced the extent to which: (1) the risk of privacy loss determined the outcome of a risk-benefit trade-off; (2) controlling personal information after disclosure and perceiving the disclosed personal information as sensitive determined the risk of potential privacy loss. Conclusion: To encourage the adoption of personalised dietary recommendations, for individuals with high levels of autonomous motivation emphasis should be on benefits and its determinants. For those with high levels of controlled motivation, it is important to focus on risk-related issues such as information sensitivity