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Dietary Restraint and Consumer Consumption Intentions for Low‐Calorie Snacks
Author(s) -
Niculescu Mihai,
Leonhardt James M.,
Payne Collin R.,
Barney Chet
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of consumer affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1745-6606
pISSN - 0022-0078
DOI - 10.1111/joca.12165
Subject(s) - calorie , consumption (sociology) , preference , perception , psychology , low calorie , value (mathematics) , environmental health , food science , social psychology , medicine , economics , endocrinology , microeconomics , mathematics , biology , social science , statistics , neuroscience , sociology
Much is still unknown regarding the reasons that drive consumer consumption intentions for low‐calorie snacks. This research investigates the impact of individuals with low vs. high dietary restraint inferences of low‐calorie snacks on their subsequent consumption intentions. We conducted a between‐subjects experiment in which we asked participants to indicate their consumption intentions and their hedonic and utilitarian value perceptions for more (almonds) vs. less (goldfish crackers) healthy 99‐calorie snacks. In addition, we measured participants' level of dietary restraint. Results suggest that consumers with high vs. low dietary restraint levels do prefer low‐calorie snacks for different reasons. Hedonic value perceptions explain consumers with low dietary restraint preference for the less healthy snack, while utilitarian value perceptions explain consumers with high dietary restraint preference for the healthier snack. We conclude with a discussion on the managerial and policy implications of our findings.