The impact of stereotyping on consumers' food choices

Yixing Gao, Anna S. Mattila

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

There is mounting evidence to show that people's food choices are influenced by social others. However, there is scant research on how consumers' food choices are affected by perceived competence of others present in the retail setting. The findings of Study 1 indicate that when the other customer is perceived as competent (i.e., paying with a Platinum Amex), the focal consumer chooses the same (organic vs. standard) chicken wrap. However, such a mimicking behavior is absent when the other customer lacks competency cues (i.e., paying with food stamps). Study 2 shows that social modeling doesn't occur in the context of indulgent food choices. Moreover, the findings of Study 2 demonstrate that competence cues perceived similarity between the other customer and the focal consumer.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)80-85
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Business Research
Volume81
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2017

Keywords

  • Competence
  • Food choice
  • Social modeling
  • Stereotypes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Marketing

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