Otterbring Tobias, Folwarczny Michał, Gasiorowska Agata
Department of Management, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
Discipline of Marketing, J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland.
Front Nutr. 2024 Aug 23;11:1377120. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1377120. eCollection 2024.
Research has shown that hungry individuals are more impulsive, impatient, and prone to make indulgent food choices compared to their satiated counterparts. However, the literature is still mixed, with some studies showing such results while others fail to demonstrate hunger effects on consumers' choice behavior. The current cross-sectional study ( = 461) sought to address these inconsistencies by examining whether the link between hunger and people's propensity to make indulgent (vs. virtuous) food choices is moderated by their healthy eating concerns. Our findings revealed a weak but significant association between participants' self-reported hunger levels and their likelihood of making indulgent rather than virtuous food choices (e.g., preferring a chocolate cake instead of a fruit salad). Importantly, this effect was moderated by their healthy eating concerns, such that the link between hunger and choice likelihood of indulgent food options only emerged among participants who scored lower, but not higher, in healthy eating concerns. We also replicated these results in a robustness check that focused on the extent to which participants indicated having a healthy lifestyle (e.g., exercising regularly), with a similar moderating influence of this factor. Together, these findings shed light on the importance of considering certain boundary conditions for establishing a link between hunger and consumers' food choices, thus adding nuance to the growing body of hunger-related literature. The results emphasize the importance of ensuring the availability of healthier snack options in environments wherein foods and beverages can be consumed, particularly at times when consumers tend to be hungry, to promote healthier eating habits.
研究表明，与饱腹的人相比，饥饿的人更容易冲动、不耐烦，并且更倾向于做出放纵的食物选择。然而，文献中的结果仍然参差不齐，一些研究显示出这样的结果，而另一些研究则未能证明饥饿对消费者选择行为的影响。当前的横断面研究（n = 461）试图通过检验饥饿与人们做出放纵（而非健康）食物选择倾向之间的联系是否受到他们对健康饮食的关注的调节来解决这些不一致之处。我们的研究结果显示，参与者自我报告的饥饿水平与他们做出放纵而非健康食物选择的可能性之间存在微弱但显著的关联（例如，更喜欢巧克力蛋糕而不是水果沙拉）。重要的是，这种影响受到他们对健康饮食的关注的调节，以至于饥饿与放纵食物选择可能性之间的联系仅在那些在健康饮食关注方面得分较低而非较高的参与者中出现。我们还在一项稳健性检验中重复了这些结果，该检验关注参与者表明拥有健康生活方式（例如定期锻炼）的程度，该因素具有类似的调节作用。总之，这些发现揭示了在建立饥饿与消费者食物选择之间的联系时考虑某些边界条件的重要性，从而为不断增长的与饥饿相关的文献增添了细微差别。结果强调了在可以消费食品和饮料的环境中，特别是在消费者容易饥饿的时候，确保提供更健康的零食选择以促进更健康饮食习惯的重要性。
