How does addiction of fast‐food turn into anti‐consumption of fast‐food? The mediating role of health concerns

Abstract

This research investigates the complex relationships between fast-food addiction (FFA) and fast food-anti-consumption (FFAC). Specifically, we propose an intervening process through which FFA turns into FFAC. Using a randomised sample of 437 respondents from Sichuan Province, China, this study tests how concern about obesity and chronic disease arising from FFA can lead to FFAC. Consistent with published research, we find that consumers' situations (availability of fast-foods, attitudes towards food) coupled with food-based advertising practices are positively associated with FFA. Health concerns and food waste (FW) enhance negative feelings and motivate consumers to find ways to overcome FFA. As a result, consumers exhibit FFAC to overcome health concerns and undesirable mental states positively correlated with FFA. Our research offers new insights into the processes that drive FFAC and provides a robust guide for policymakers, applied psychologists, consumers, and food marketers who can use health-related marketing appeals to limit the binge eating of unhealthy foods. | INTRODUCTIONConsumption of fast-food has increased due to its convenience and availability, thus increasing obesity and health concerns (Goyal & Singh, 2007). Studies have found that consuming calorie-rich fatty foods leads to fast-food addiction (FFA) (Farah & Shahzad, 2020;Khalid et al., 2019). Overconsumption and FFA threaten consumer well-being in terms of health and cost (Pentina & Amos, 2011). Thus, marketing literature needs to increase its concern for consumer welfare (Tosun & Yanar Gürce, 2018). To promote consumer well-being, marketing research into food consumption has emphasised the topic of fast-food anti-consumption (FFAC)

Exploring food waste prevention through advent food consumption: The role of perceived concern, consumer value, and impulse buying

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Factors affecting psychological ownership in playful consumption experience

“…At a certain level of game type, consumer happiness motives decrease. The Johnson-Neyman technique results are presented in Table 7 (Shahzad et al ., 2022; Farah and Shahzad, 2020; Miller et al ., 2013). The findings suggest that the relationship between psychological ownership and consumer happiness is significant only up to a certain level (i.e.…”

Sustainable development in brand loyalty: Exploring the dynamics of corporate social responsibility, customer attitudes, and emotional contagion

“…To gather the data, stratified sampling was mainly employed. Additionally, the sample was restricted to Gen Y consumers, which might not accurately reflect the cities' overall population (Shahzad et al, 2022). As a result, the study's results should be interpreted cautiously and may not be generalizable to Pakistan's entire population or even to all its consumers in those cities.…”

“…To measure attitude a five‐item scale was used (Meng et al, 2021). A nine‐item scale measuring CSR was used; the latter scale was based on an original scale used by (Shahzad et al, 2022). An overview of the sample is addressed in Table 1.…”