The impact of social values on food‐related attitudes

Social values represent desired end states of being or desirable behaviors such as self‐respect, warm relations with others, or excitement. These abstract social cognitions help shape product attitudes and through them guide overt behavior. Empirical research has supported this theoretical structure of values‐attitudes‐behavior, but only for a relatively few high involvement products. A sample of 323 adult women shoppers rated the importance of the nine social values from the list of values; reported their attitudes toward snack foods, convenience foods, and cooking; and described purchase frequencies for a variety of foods. The shoppers′ food attitudes were consistently associated with self‐reported food purchases. Moreover, ratings of several values were associated with attitudes toward snack foods and use of convenience foods, suggesting that social values may influence buyer behavior for low as well as high involvement products. The findings have implications for food marketers who want to promote their products more effectively, consumer theorists who want to understand the impact of values on consumer behavior, and public makers who would like to influence food expenditures by consumers.