The role of consideration set size in explaining fish consumption

Area of Science:

• Consumer Behavior
• Food Science
• Marketing Research

Background:

• Consumer choices in food consumption are influenced by various psychological and behavioral factors.
• Understanding the drivers of fish consumption frequency is important for public health and industry.
• The role of consideration set size in mediating the relationship between attitudes, knowledge, and consumption behavior is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationships between consumer attitude, knowledge, and consideration set size regarding fish consumption.
• To determine how these factors influence the frequency of fish consumption among Danish consumers.
• To examine the mediating role of consideration set size in the attitude-frequency and knowledge-frequency links.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional data collected from approximately 1100 Danish consumers.
• Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using LISREL software was employed.
• Simultaneous estimation of the strength and direction of relationships among variables.

Main Results:

• Consideration set size partially mediates the relationship between attitude and fish consumption frequency.
• Consideration set size also partially mediates the relationship between knowledge and fish consumption frequency.
• Knowledge was found to be a more significant determinant of consideration set size than attitude.
• A larger consideration set size was positively associated with higher fish consumption frequency.

Conclusions:

• Consumer knowledge and attitude significantly impact fish consumption frequency, with consideration set size acting as a partial mediator.
• Targeting consumer knowledge may be a more effective strategy than focusing solely on attitudes to influence consideration set size.
• The findings provide insights into the psychological mechanisms driving fish consumption behavior.