A Theoretical Framework on the Determinants of Food Purchasing Behavior of the Elderly: A Bibliometric Review with Scientific Mapping in Web of Science

Clean-label products: Factors affecting liking and acceptability by Portuguese older adults

Consumers are preferring more "natural" foods, made of "healthier" and "familiar" components - the "clean-label" trend. As the population ages, understanding the older adult consumer segment becomes increasingly important. This study aims to identify the factors influencing the acceptability and liking of clean-label products in older adults living in the community. A convenience sample of 100 older adults was used for this cross-sectional study. Socio-demographic data, health status, independence level, lifestyle characteristics, nutritional status, and food and nutrient intake data were collected. The acceptability and liking for clean-label products comprised two parts: Sensory analysis with overall liking evaluation of three pairs of products, using a 9-point hedonic scale and free comments; Willingness to eat and preference assessment of nine pairs of products using the Food Action scale and a simple preference test. The participants were 80% female with a mean age of 75 years old. The overall liking for clean-label versions of cookies and mayonnaise was lower than for traditional versions. However, participants were more willing to eat the clean-label versions of products, particularly ham and yogurt. Most of the participants would prefer buying the clean-label version of all nine pairs of products, especially for ham, loaf bread, sausages, and yogurt. In sum, older adults living in the community exhibit a lower liking but, a greater willingness to eat and a higher preference for buying clean-label products. Older adults who favor clean-label products have higher levels of education and are reported to have a more adequate diet.

Digital Marketing and Fast-Food Intake in the UAE: The Role of Firm-Generated Content among Adult Consumers

In the contemporary digital marketing context, this study aimed to investigate the influence of firm-generated content and social media advertising on fast-food consumption patterns among the adult population. Utilizing a questionnaire distributed to customers of a restaurant in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, convenience sampling was employed. The findings underscored a significant positive relationship between firm-generated content and social media engagement, as well as between the latter and online shopping behavior. However, it was determined that word of mouth did not significantly moderate the relationship between attitudes towards social media advertisements and fast-food consumption patterns. From a theoretical perspective, these results enrich the understanding of how digital dynamics shape consumer behavior in specific contexts. Practically speaking, they prompt a critical reflection on the ethics of marketing in promoting products potentially detrimental to health, urging both companies and policymakers to reconsider their strategies and regulations, respectively.

Factors Influencing Consumption Behaviour towards Aquatic Food among Asian Consumers: A Systematic Scoping Review

Asia accounts for over 70% of total global aquatic food consumption, but aquatic food consumption behaviours and attitudes among Asian consumers are poorly documented and understood. This paper synthesises literature on factors influencing aquatic food consumption behaviour in Asia and the potential to support transitions toward more sustainable food consumption patterns. We identified 113 studies for inclusion in a scoping review, and identified five clusters of publications: (1) product attributes, availability, and accessibility (24% of publications); (2) willingness to pay for aquatic foods (25%); (3) psychosocial factors (e.g., attitudes and subjective norms) (17%); (4) sociodemographic and lifestyle factors (21%); and (5) miscellaneous factors, including food safety and social status (13%). This study indicates that multiple interacting factors influence aquatic food consumption behaviours among Asian consumers, among which price is central. Knowledge of, and attitudes toward, the perceived quality and safety of aquatic foods were identified as important but were mediated by household characteristics. Sustainable production practices, country of origin, and ecolabels were found to be less influential on consumption behaviour. We found that improving consumers' knowledge and attitudes about the quality and safety of aquatic foods might positively influence aquatic food consumption behaviour. Future multidisciplinary research is required to better understand interactions among the multiple factors that influence Asian consumers' aquatic food consumption behaviour.

Interactions between Street Food and Food Safety Topics in the Scientific Literature—A Bibliometric Analysis with Science Mapping

Street food (SF) consists of ready-to-eat food prepared and sold on the street. This food constitutes the food traditions of local populations in many countries of the world. SF characterizes a large number of cities around the world, from New York to Paris, from Palermo to cities of North Africa, China, India and Japan. SF is inexpensive and prepared following traditional methods that meet local consumer preferences, culinary culture and lifestyles. Moreover, SF allows a unique experience for tourists who also want to experience a destination through traditional food consumed on the street together with the locals. Nevertheless, SF is linked to several health hazards. Hence, several studies discussed on the compliance with hygiene and food quality requirements that SF vendors should guarantee, to ensure human health. So far, there is no bibliometric review attempting to provide an objective and comprehensive analysis of the existing scientific documents that simultaneously study the scientific topic of SF linked to that of Food Safety (FS). Therefore, the objective of this paper is to provide a theoretical framework of the interactions between studies on SF and FS topics, in order to discover if the combined topic of “Street Food Safety” (SFS) was investigated as a topic in its own right. A bibliometric analysis was carried out analyzing 276 scientific contributions from the last 21 years, indexed in the Elsevier Scopus database and in the Clarivate Web of Science database. The results showed a very strong interaction between the two topics and many others in several scientific sectors; In particular, the topic of SFS involves many disciplines of social sciences. The results highlight that the scientific topic of SFS exists but not consciously, and it is believed that the research interest in this topic can grow considerably in the coming years, also because of the current COVID-19 pandemic situation that we are experiencing.

Behavioral Theories That Have Influenced the Way Health State Preferences Are Elicited and Interpreted: A Bibliometric Mapping Analysis of the Time Trade-Off Method With VOSviewer Visualization

Aim

The aim of this paper is to develop an understanding of how behavioral theories have influenced the way preferences for health-related quality of life are elicited and interpreted. We focus on the Time Trade-off (TTO) method given it represents the quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) concept-that survival in less-than-full health can be deemed equivalent to a shorter survival in full health. To our knowledge this is the first review using a combination of systematic scoping review, bibliometrics and VOSviewer visualization to map the development of ideas in health economics.

Methods

A priori, we selected three behavioral theories to explore within our review, referred to here as Expected Utility Theory, Non-Expected Utility Theory and Probabilistic Choice Theory. A fourth topic, Order Effects, is defined broadly to encompass behavioral theories around timing/sequence of events. For the main search, Scopus was used to identify literature that had (a) elicited TTO values and/or (b) contributed to the way TTO values were elicited and interpreted, from inception to July 2021. Papers that focused on the latter category were given the label "behavioral" and underwent additional analyses. A two stage-screening was applied to assess eligibility. Co-citation, co-authorship and co-occurrence of keywords was used to chart the development of TTO over time.

Results

A total of 1,727 records were retrieved from Scopus and were supplemented by an additional 188 papers. There were 856 applied and 280 behavioral papers included in the final corpus, with the behavioral set split equally into four sets of 70 papers to chart the development of keywords over time: (1) 1972-1999; (2) 2000-2010, (3) 2010-2015 and (4) 2015-2021.

Discussion

The keyword analysis suggested that whilst some ideas transition quickly from economic theory to the TTO literature, such as the impact of Order Effects, others take longer to be assimilated, for example Non-Expected Utility models or failure of constant discounting. It is therefore important that researchers within health economics work more closely with those in mainstream economics and keep abreast of the wider economics and behavioral sciences to expedite the uptake of new and relevant ideas.