Consumer fear and healthy eating during COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThis study aims to contribute to the healthy eating literature by analyzing whether fear of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), ability to prepare food and the safety-seeking are antecedents of the intention to consume healthy foods during COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe aut...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Marketing intelligence & planning Vol. 40; no. 2; pp. 227 - 241
Main Authors:	Campos, Patrícia de Oliveira, Mélo, Letícia Barbosa de, de Souza, Jéssica Carvalho Veras, Santana, Poliana Nunes de, Matte, Juliana, Costa, Marconi Freitas da
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Bradford Emerald Publishing Limited 10-03-2022 Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Subjects:	Coronaviruses COVID-19 Health behavior Pandemics Self esteem Ability to prepare food Safety-seeking Fear of COVID-19 Healthy food consumption
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Summary:	PurposeThis study aims to contribute to the healthy eating literature by analyzing whether fear of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), ability to prepare food and the safety-seeking are antecedents of the intention to consume healthy foods during COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted two studies. The first study was done with a sample of 546 valid respondents. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze data. The second study was qualitative, in which 40 subjects took part. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.FindingsThe main findings reveal that ability to prepare food and the safety-seeking are strong antecedents of the intention to consume healthy foods. In addition, safety-seeking mediates the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and intention to consume healthy eating. However, high levels of fear did not influence the ability to prepare food and intention to consume healthy foods. Also, the ability to prepare food does not mediate the relation between fear of COVID-19 and intention to consume healthy food.Originality/valueThis study is among the first to consider terror management propositions to analyze the intention to consume healthy foods during COVID-19 pandemic. From a scientific point of view, it has several contributions to the literature. First, this study provides advances and innovation in the field by identifying new explanatory relations. Second, this study extends the scope of terror management health model (TMHM) by analyzing it in the pandemic context. Third, the findings seem to provide empirical support for recent criticism of TMHM assumptions. Moreover, practical implications are outlined to public health decision-makers and healthy food businesses on increasing consumers’ intention to healthy eating.
ISSN:	0263-4503 1758-8049
DOI:	10.1108/MIP-04-2021-0125