Diet related chronic disease is a global problem related to millions of deaths worldwide. To encourage healthier diets, a greater understanding of the determinants of food choice is necessary. Food choice is a complex, multifaceted process, with a wide range of non-price determinants of food choice. Economic studies tend to focus on the importance of price factors and categorise non-price determinants as individual preferences. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the role of non-price determinants of food choice, specifically exploring how perceived barriers towards healthy eating, time preference, and signposting a food tax can influence food choices. Analysis of the Scottish Health Survey identified associations between perceived barriers to healthy eating and fruit and vegetable consumption. Results show perceiving healthy foods as too boring or not liking the taste of healthy foods were associated with lower fruit and vegetable consumption for men and women. A lack of willpower was reported as the most commonly reported perceived barrier to healthy eating. Time preference is a concept closely related to willpower and to investigate the impact of dietary choices further, primary data were collected to estimate the relationship between time preference and diet. No association between time preference and diet was observed in this study. The effect of signposting a food tax on food purchases was tested using two methods: a discrete choice experiment and field experiment. The discrete choice experiment found that the tax signpost was significantly associated with food choices whilst the field experiment showed no effect. These contradictory results may be explained by the majority of participants failing to notice the signpost in a real-world setting, compared to the discrete choice experiment which was completed online. To conclude, this thesis highlights that non-price determinants of food choice play an important role in the understanding of food choices.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:767329 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | McMorrow, Liam |
| Contributors | Ludbrook, Anne. ; Macdiarmid, Jennie I. |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=239959 |
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