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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Errors as a Means of Reducing Impulsive Food Choice
Published on: June 5, 2016
Health concerns, self-control, and low-calorie food purchasing behavior
Liming Zhao1, Huilin Yin1, Xu Cheng1
1The College of Economics and Management, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
Objectives:
This study examines the relationships among health concerns, self-control, and consumers' low-calorie food purchasing behavior.
Methods:
A total of 320 valid electronic questionnaires were collected from respondents across various regions in China. Factor analysis was employed to calculate the composite scores of the latent variables, which were subsequently used to test the proposed hypotheses.
Results:
Health concerns exerted a significant positive effect on self-control (β = 0.14, CR = 2.08, p < 0.05, 95% CI [0.01, 0.29]), while self-control demonstrated a strong positive influence on low-calorie food purchasing behavior (β = 0.55, CR = 16.84, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.43, 0.68]). However, the direct effect of health concern on purchasing behavior was not statistically significant (β = -0.04, CR = -1.02, p > 0.10, 95% CI [-0.18, 0.08]). Moreover, nutritional knowledge significantly and positively predicted self-control (β = 6.87, CR = 4.76, p < 0.001, 95% CI [3.95, 24.91]).
Conclusion:
This study integrates health concerns, self-control, nutritional knowledge, and low-calorie food purchasing behavior into a unified theoretical framework, thereby deepening the understanding of the mechanisms through which health concerns influence consumers' low-calorie food purchasing behavior.
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