What is known and what is unknown about food buying and consumption behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic? A systematic literature review

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to analyze the management and marketing literature on food buying and consumption behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic to shed light on how consumers reacted to this global crisis, to help interpret consumer reactions to possible future crises and to identify future research avenues. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a systematic literature review as research methodology. Findings This study's outcomes reveal that, during the pandemic, people have deeply changed their food buying and consumption habits. The analysis identifies four main themes: food purchasing channel choice and buying behavior; food choices and consumption habits; food and “food-related” waste; and country influence on food buying and consumption. Research limitations/implications This review uses only one database of records (Scopus). The Boolean modifiers chosen for extracting the papers may have influenced the type and number of retrieved publications. The analysis was limited to articles published in peer-reviewed academic journals. Originality/value While most examined investigations do not provide a comprehensive picture of consumers’ food-related responses to the pandemic and individually offer only a partial view focusing on one or just a few aspects of food consumer behavior, this study offers an overall description of consumers’ responses to the crisis and identifies important research issues to be addressed in the future.

Snacking pattern among IT professionals from Pune, India

“…Interestingly, the ordering of snacks through food delivery apps was rare among IT professionals. Contrary to findings from a recent systematic review by Nosi et al (2023), which highlighted an increase in unhealthy snack ordering through apps following the COVID-19 pandemic, our study may present a disparity due to the demands of a busy work schedule and limited time for ordering food while at the workplace.…”

“…Interestingly, the ordering of snacks through food delivery apps was rare among IT professionals. Contrary to findings from a recent systematic review by Nosi et al (2023), which highlighted an increase in unhealthy snack ordering through apps following the COVID-19 pandemic, our study may present a disparity due to the demands of a busy work schedule and limited time for ordering food while at the workplace. Certain factors predominantly contribute to the increased unhealthy snacking among IT profession, such as taste and convenience of snacks, corroborating previous study findings (Sijtsema et al, 2012;Rose et al, 2022).…”

Are you alright brand equity? Analysis of the top 100 global brands during COVID-19 outbreaks

“…Even though the brand values can be captured from other sources, Ourusoff (1993) has claimed that the Brand Finance Group is considered the expert in valuing world brands and widely used by many scholars (e.g. Arora and Neha, 2016;€ Okten et al, 2019).…”

“…Most people buy more personal hygiene products, canned food, fresh food, entertainment, gardening goods, do-it-yourself products and cleaning supplies. While at the same time, they have bought less clothing, home decor and beauty products (Hoekstra and Leeflang, 2020;Nosi et al, 2023;Theofilou et al, 2020;Verma and Naveen, 2021).…”