ECONOMIC ATTRIBUTES IN FOOD CHOICE: INVESTIGATING RISK, HABITS, STRESS, AND SELF-CONTROL

My dissertation tests the effect of various economic attributes on individual food choice. In my first chapter, I explore the relationship between food choice and risk. I use an online experiment to test the effects of information on nutritional characteristics and how individual risk attitudes affect the selection of healthier options by using an online survey to elicit consumer preferences. While other research has focused on generic or “fad” nutritional claims, this study focuses on how advertisement and labeling information of actual nutritional attributes impacts consumer choice, and how consumer risk preferences affect their willingness to pay for nutritional attributes, based on the “framing” of the label presented. This study serves to provide evidence-based solutions for the rising obesity epidemic impacting both developed and developing countries and serves to form policy conclusions regarding food and nutrition. Overall, information interventions induced a negative effect on consumer willingness to pay for the item, regardless of risk attitude. I extend this analysis into my second chapter, which explores the relationship of risk attitudes and food choice. In this paper, I introduce a novel risk elicitation method that is specific to risk-taking in nutrition. As it stands, current risk elicitation measures tend to be generic and not specific to food choices. This means that these measures cannot fully capture risk attitudes towards nutrition. In this paper, I develop and test a novel risk elicitation measure that captures risk attitudes specific to the nutrition domain. Overall, I find strong support that latent risk attitudes about nutrition significantly affect food choice and this measure outperforms standard risk elicitation measures in predicting dietary behaviors, beliefs, and label usage. In my final chapter, co-authored with Dr. Sinne Smed (University of Copenhagen), I use Danish registry data to explore a different type of ``personality”, explaining the effects of habits, stress, and self-control on food choices. Our theory is that while stress and self-control levels will impact day-to-day food choices, strongly ingrained habits will mitigate the effects of stress on food choice. We borrow from the psychology literature to measure stress. We use past purchases to create a “habit index” and are the first to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy habits. In this chapter, we formalize and test a new model of imperfect self-control using unique Danish GfK Consumerscan panel data, a voluntary survey that measures daily purchases of about 2,000 households. We investigate the combined role that stress, self-control, and habitual behavior play in household food choice. We build upon previous evidence that strong habits mitigate the effect of stress on purchasing behavior. We are the first to investigate the role of habit type (good vs. bad) in decision-making.

Author

• Bedi, Amberly

• Food Choice
• Risk Attitudes
• Willingness to Pay

Identifier

hdl:1920/14768

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:MARS:1920/14768