The Role of Habit, Childhood Consumption, Familiarity, and Attitudes Across Seafood Consumption Segments in Australia

Abstract

Australian consumers hold very favourable attitudes toward seafood with key drivers to consumption being taste, convenience, diet variety and health benefits. Nevertheless, despite these positive attitudes, seafood consumption remains below many other countries. In this paper, we investigate the influence of habit including regular childhood consumption, familiarity with seafood, and attitudes toward seafood on seafood consumption and consumption occasions. Habit and lack of familiarity with seafood were found to lead to lower levels of seafood consumption, while positive attitudes toward seafood were associated with more regular seafood consumption. People who consumed seafood on a regular basis as a child were more likely to be more familiar with seafood and be in the habit of consuming seafood in adulthood. Patterns of childhood consumption occasions were found to be associated with adult consumption occasions. Based on these findings, we discuss possible strategies and behavioural interventions for further investigation, which are grounded in habit theory and are aimed at changing seafood eating habits, increasing childhood consumption, and reducing the lack of familiarity with seafood.

Consumer purchasing behaviour towards fish and seafood products. Patterns and insights from a sample of international studies

“…Similar results were also observed in Norway where high fish consumption (three or more times per week) in 45-69 year old women was correlated to high fish consumption during their childhood (Trondsen et al, 2003(Trondsen et al, , 2004a(Trondsen et al, , 2004b. The role of childhood habits having a positive effect on seafood consumption in adulthood was also confirmed by Birch and Lawley (2014) who found that consuming fish regularly as a child is associated to a more favourable attitude towards fish and a greater familiarity with this product. However, these authors did not find any significant evidence that regular fish consumption during childhood translates into the same behaviour in adulthood.…”

“…more healthy fish consumption. Thus policy makers and marketers should reflect more on how to employ principles of behavioural economics to trigger behavioural changes which might be stimulated by visual cues, in-store fish tastings, cooking demonstrations, or special price promotions to encourage trial at the point of sale (Birch & Lawley, 2014;van't Riet, Sijtsema, Hans, & De Bruijnb, 2011).…”

“…Probably, some factors, such as lack of knowledge, skills and self-confidence, can interfere by weakening rather than reinforcing the habit of eating fish in the transition towards adulthood. Birch and Lawley (2014) argue that in countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom, this can happen because in some cases childhood fish consumption is primarily associated with dining out (e.g. school canteens, restaurants, etc.)…”

Toward crustacean without chemicals: a descriptive analysis of consumer response using price comparisons

“…Also shown in Table 2, the frequency of consumption of crustacean product found Palermo dominating ‘twice per month’ before Naples and Rome dominating ‘at least once a month’, and Turin dominating ‘never’ before Milan. Previously reported cross-cultural and single cross-sectional studies have underlined that knowledge, skills, and self-confidence in the selection and preparation of fishery products can positively/significantly impact on its consumption frequency (10, 27, 30, 31). …”

Train the child and teach the adult: Developing intervention strategies for increasing seafood consumption

“…Studies of fish consumption reveal that many consumers are not confident with fish and experience difficulty in evaluating, selecting, storing, and preparing fish (Birch & Lawley, ; Juhl & Poulsen, ; McManus et al, ; Sogn‐Grundvåg & Østli, ; Sveinsdóttir et al, ). This lack of confidence contributes to lower levels of fish consumption.…”