Food choice motives for consumers in Lebanon: a descriptive study

• Published in: British food journal (1966) Vol. 121; no. 11; pp. 2607 - 2619
• Main Author: Koksal, Mehmet Haluk
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford Emerald Publishing Limited 23.10.2019; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Cluster analysis; Consumers; Consumption; Developing countries; Eating behavior; Factor analysis; Food; Food quality; LDCs; Mood; Natural & organic foods; Physiology; Public health; Questionnaires; Random sampling; Religion; Sociodemographics; Statistical sampling; Weight; Lebanon; Japan; Malaysia; Lebanon; Customer segmentation; Clustering; Food choice motives
• ISSN: 0007-070X; 1758-4108
• DOI: 10.1108/BFJ-09-2018-0580

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors underlying Lebanese consumers’ food motivations and segment them based on those motivations. Design/methodology/approach The data in the study were collected from the main shopping districts of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, through a structured questionnaire. Respondents were intercepted by employing simple random sampling. Out of 700 people approached, 411 surveys were collected, giving a response rate of 58.7 per cent. After gathering the food choice motives under main groups by employing exploratory factor analysis, the study used two step cluster analysis. Findings The food choice motives were grouped under eight dimensions: ecological, sensory, convenience and availability, health, weight, mood, price and religion motives. Based on the food choice motives, the study identified four dissimilar clusters, namely, careless, conscious, hedonic and health and weight conscious. The study clearly indicated that there are significant differences among clusters in terms of the food choice motives, attitudes towards healthy eating, exercising, food quality and natural organic food and socio demographic characteristics. Originality/value There are numerous studies on food choice motives in the literature investigating certain countries. This study is the first study investigating the subject in one of the Middle Eastern countries, Lebanon.