Impact of consumer global–local identity on attitude towards and intention to buy local foods. (March 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Ting; Chen, Jing; Grunert, Klaus G.
• Is Part Of: Food quality and preference. Volume 96(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-03
• Subjects: Global identity -- Local identity -- Locavorism -- Consumer xenocentrism -- Local food; Food preferences -- Periodicals; Food -- Quality -- Periodicals; Food industry and trade -- Quality control -- Periodicals; Préférences alimentaires -- Périodiques; Aliments -- Qualité -- Périodiques; Aliments -- Industrie et commerce -- Qualité -- Contrôle -- Périodiques; Food industry and trade -- Quality control; Food preferences; Food -- Quality; Periodicals; 664
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2021.104428
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0950-3293

Abstract

Highlights: The role of consumer global–local identities in their preferences for local foods. The impact of local identity on local food preferences is mediated by locavorism. Xenocentrism mediates the impact of local identity on local food preferences. Global identity affects local food preferences via its positive impact on xenocentrism. Abstract: The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) has profoundly affected the food systems, leading to consumer concerns about the lack of reliability and safety of global foods and a growing trend towards consuming local foods. Consumers have formed multicultural identities, such as global identity and local identity, under the influences of global and local consumer culture. This study develops a conceptual model to examine the impact of consumer global–local identity, locavorism, and consumer xenocentrism on consumer attitudes towards and intentions to buy local foods during Covid-19 crisis. We conducted an online survey in China that measured the constructs using established scales. Using structural equation modelling to test the proposed hypotheses, we find that: a higher degree of global identity will lead to a higher degree of consumer xenocentrism, whereas a higher degree of local identity will lead to a lower degree of consumer xenocentrism; local identity significantly and positively predicts locavorism; contrary to the prediction, the impact of global identity on locavorism is not significant; a higher degree of consumer xenocentrism will lead to a lower degree of attitude towards buying local foods. Theoretically, our findings contribute to the understanding of literature on local food consumption, consumer global–local identity, and consumer xenocentrism. Local food marketers can obtain practical insights based on our findings.