Non-vegan consumers buying vegan food: the moderating role of conformity

Martinelli, Elisa; Canio, Francesca De

doi:10.1108/bfj-01-2021-0023

Cited by 39 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 61 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…For instance, we would likely find that animal welfare would be a bigger motivator of vegan food consumption for vegans than for nonvegans. In line with this position, reference [52] shows that spirituality and certain aspects of animal welfare positively influence non-vegan consumers' attitudes and intentions to purchase vegan food but that it is their conformity towards growing trends in vegan food consumption that moderate intentions to purchase. Meanwhile, the comparison in [53] of consumers and non-consumers of legumes (a staple ingredient of the vegan diet) indicated that the latter group was hindered by taste and lack of preparation knowledge and preparation time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Exploring Consumer Perceptions of the Value Proposition Embedded in Vegan Food Products Using Text Analytics

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Given the increasing interest in sustainable food consumption and production, this study aims to understand how consumers perceive the value proposition of vegan food. Over 120,000 tweets relating to veganism were extracted from Twitter, which were then analysed using the text analytics tool Leximancer to ascertain the predominant themes of conversation taking place around vegan food. Our results show that, in light of the three main drivers for vegan food choice—ethical, personal health, and environmental—surprisingly, we see a limited number of environmental or sustainability motivated tweets. This is a significant finding, as, while vegan food consumption is reported to be sustainable, this is not a preferred topic of conversation for consumers. Value propositions communicated with respect to personal health attributes (e.g., dairy free, gluten free, and nutrition), and consumption benefits (e.g., tasty, delicious) are more likely to resonate with consumers and motivate increased consumption while concurrently delivering environmental benefits as a positive side-effect. Furthermore, the polarity of the attitudes and conversations taking place between vegans and non-vegans on Twitter underscores that a single value proposition is unlikely to reach both groups simultaneously and that different value propositions are likely to be required to reach these respective groups.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Exploring Consumer Perceptions of the Value Proposition Embedded in Vegan Food Products Using Text Analytics

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It is suggested that restaurants hold strong potential to guide consumers towards more sustainable eating habits (Higgins-Desbiolles and Wijesinghe, 2019; Kim et al, 2020). Despite the impact of veg-friendly restaurants on consumer behaviour and sustainability (Ploll and Stern, 2020;Martinelli and Canio, 2021), little is known about the entrepreneurial journeys of restaurateurs that found them. Moreover, considering that vegan and vegetarian consumers only represent a small portion of the global market, this is an important focal point to better understand how these restaurants emerge.…”

Section: Restaurateurs and Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Building a greener dining scene: how do veg-friendly restaurateurs “crop up”?

Riverola

Dedehayir

Harrington

et al. 2022

BFJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeOf all industries, agri-food has one of the largest environmental impacts. Reducing the production and consumption of meat, dairy and seafood, and moving to predominantly plant-based diets, is key to lowering our environmental footprint. Veg-friendly restaurants play a key role in this transition as they have the capacity to build a greener dining scene (e.g. positively change consumer opinions towards vegan food). Hence, the purpose of this paper is to understand the entrepreneurial journey of veg-friendly restaurateurs.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employed an inductive-qualitative approach to analyse 12 veg-friendly restaurants in three countries (Spain, Australia and Colombia). In addition to inspecting available data on the restaurants and their menus, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the restaurateurs to uncover (1) the impact of their venture for customers and society, (2) the drivers to establishing their businesses and (3) the challenges faced and strategies used in the management of veg-friendly restaurants.FindingsThis work recognises veg-friendly restaurateurs as key actors in building a sustainable future through a greener dining scene. The authors uncover the main drivers of the entrepreneurial journey and propose a multi-dimensional approach to identity and passion as key antecedents of entrepreneurial intention. The authors also discuss how social and sustainable entrepreneurship may be the expression of an activist behaviour. Finally, challenges and strategies to manage veg-friendly restaurants are discussed with directions that contribute to both theory and practice.Originality/valueA switch towards vegan and vegetarian diets has important implications for ecology, society and the economy. While most research has focused on the consumer side, this paper is unique in understanding how veg-friendly restaurants emerge. This is quite distinctive in the literature regarding sustainable restaurants, which until now, has focused on the managers' adoption of sustainable practices rather than the restaurateurs' entrepreneurial journey. This work additionally builds new insights in the entrepreneurship literature, through uncovering the motivations, experiences and challenges of entrepreneurs that, in most cases, show activist attributes.

show abstract

“…Prior studies have investigated vegans' and nonvegans' attitudes toward vegan foods ( Martinelli & De Canio, 2021 ). According to Cole and Morgan (2011), veganism is sometimes viewed as a deviant practice, and this unfavorable perception is promoted through veganism's misrepresentation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%