Received: 2022-01-10  |  Accepted: 2022-03-09  |  Published: 2022-03-30

Title

Marketing motivations influencing food choice in 16 countries: segmentation and cluster analysis


Abstract

Food behaviour is governed by different kinds of motivations, some of individual nature and others related with the external food environment. This study investigated the eating motivations in sixteen countries with respect to commercial and marketing influences on food choices. The questionnaire survey was developed between September 2017 and June 2018, via online tools, targeting a convenience sample of residents in sixteen countries (Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and the United States of America). The number of valid responses received was 11,919 participants. The data were treated using SPSS software, and the main statistical techniques used included exploratory factor analysis, evaluation of internal reliability through Cronbach's alpha, cluster analysis (hierarchical and k-means) and logistic regression. The results obtained showed two groups of people: low motivated and notably motivated consumers. The results showed high asymmetries between countries, with highest percentage of highly motivated consumers in Egypt and the lowest percentage of highly motivated in Portugal. It was further observed that consumers more influenced by commercial and marketing aspects (the notably motivated) tend to be women, young, single, less educated, less likely to be professionally active, and those who live mostly in rural or suburban areas. Less exercise and overweight are also factors associated with greater propensity for commercial and marketing motivations. Furthermore, health problems such as shellfish or gluten intolerance, hypertension and high cholesterol confer less propensity to be in the segment of the notably motivated consumers. In conclusion, this work highlighted the role of geographic, sociodemographic and lifestyle factors as food choice determinants.


Keywords

marketing segmentation, food consumption, eating motivation, cluster analysis


JEL classifications

G40


URI

http://jssidoi.org/ird/article/88


DOI


HAL


Pages

10-25


Funding

This work was prepared in the ambit of the multinational project EATMOT from CI&DETS Research Centre (IPV - Viseu, Portugal) with reference PROJ/CI&DETS/2016/0008 and also project PROJ/CI&DETS/CGD/0012. The authors acknowledge financial support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) within the scope of the projects Refª UIDB/00681/2020. Furthermore, we would like to thank the CI&DETS and CERNAS Research Centres and the Polytechnic Institutes of Viseu for their support.

This is an open access issue and all published articles are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Authors

Henriques, Carla
Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Viseu, Portugal https://www.ipv.pt
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Matos, Ana
Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Viseu, Portugal https://www.ipv.pt
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Malva, Madalena
Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Viseu, Portugal https://www.ipv.pt
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Bartkienė, Elena
Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania https://lsmuni.lt
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Djekić, Ilija
University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia https://www.bg.ac.rs
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Tarcea, Monica
University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology of Târgu Mureș, Târgu Mureș, Romania https://www.umfst.ro
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Sarić, Marijana Matek
University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia https://www.unizd.hr
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Černelič-Bizjak, Maša
University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia https://www.upr.si
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Dolar, Veronika
State University of New York, New York, United States https://www.suny.edu
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EL-Kenawy, Ayman
University of Sadat City, Sadat City, Egypt http://usc.edu.eg
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Ferreira, Vanessa
Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil https://ufmg.br
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Klava, Dace
Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Jelgava, Latvia https://www.llu.lv
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Korzeniowska, Małgorzata
Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wrocław, Poland https://upwr.edu.pl
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Vittadini, Elena
University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy https://international.unicam.it
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Leal, Marcela
Red IESVIDAS and CONINUT, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Frez-Muñoz, Lucia
Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, Netherlands https://www.wur.nl
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Papageorgiou, Maria
International Hellenic University, Thermi, Greece https://www.ihu.gr
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Szűcs, Viktória
Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture, Budapest, Hungary https://www.nak.hu
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Correia, Paula M. R.
Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Viseu, Portugal https://www.ipv.pt
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Guiné, Raquel P. F.
Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Viseu, Portugal https://www.ipv.pt
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Journal title

Insights into Regional Development

Volume

4


Number

1


Issue date

March 2022


Issue DOI


ISSN

ISSN 2345-0282 (online)


Publisher

VšĮ Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, Vilnius, Lithuania

Cited

Google Scholar

Article views & downloads

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