This analysis has been conducted to explore the validity and reliability of the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) across 9 European countries. Variation in the factor structure and the perceived importance of food choice motives have been compared cross-nationally.Volunteers (N=9381) were recruited from an existing panel of a social research agency to take part in the Food4Me survey in Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK and Norway. The survey was administered on-line. Configural, metric and scalar invariance fell within acceptable limits and were consistent across the 9 countries.All reliability parameters were above acceptable levels. Factor analysis confirmed that all items loaded onto the same 9 factors established by Steptoe and colleagues (1995). There was highly significant agreement in the relative importance of food choice factors between countries. Price was ranked as most important food choice factor in five countries (Spain, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and the Netherlands), sensory appeal was ranked first for three countries (Norway, Germany and the UK) while natural content was ranked as the most important factor in Poland. Familiarity and ethical concern were consistently ranked as least important in all countries. These data suggest that the FCQ is a suitable tool for exploring food choice motives across different European populations. Differences in relative importance of factors within countries may need to be taken into account in dietary health intervention and food product development.
PurposeThe goal of this paper is to explore the Croatian young consumers' perception of functional food, to investigate underlying attitudes and their willingness to buy functional food in the future.Design/methodology/approachConsumer survey was conducted using a self‐administered questionnaire on a sample of 1,035 young consumers aged between 14 and 30 years. Research questions focused on knowledge about functional food, attitudes and buying behaviour regarding functional food. Data were analysed using univariate statistics, bivariate correlations and factor analysis.FindingsAbout 40 per cent of young consumers are familiar with the concept of functional food, and 27 per cent of them are regular buyers. The usual place where functional food is acquired is supermarkets and most commonly bought are functional dairy products. The most important functional food attributes are taste and price/quality ratio. Consumers are satisfied with functional food health enhancing characteristics and less satisfied with its appearance and durability. Three factors that explain young consumers' attitudes towards functional food are health awareness and confidence, lack of trust for functional food and its price and quality. More than half of respondents are willing to buy functional food in the future (51.8 per cent). Female consumers aged between 19 and 30, living in smaller households with higher income are more likely to be functional food consumers in the future.Research limitations/implicationsA limitation of this study is the sample including only young consumers. Further research is needed to analyse other consumer groups, and to determine which segments are most appropriate for functional food products marketing.Practical implicationsResearch results indicate a need to increase consumer familiarity with functional food and improvements in some of its characteristics. Overall positive attitudes toward functional food should be reinforced and young consumers can be influenced through targeted advertising.Originality/valueThis paper gives the first account of young consumers' perception of functional food in Croatia. The results of this research can be used to plan further marketing activities.
Personalised nutrition providers may benefit from taking into consideration the importance of underlying determinants of food choice in potential users, particularly weight control, mood and price, when promoting services and in tailoring communications that are motivationally relevant.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.