Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are: The influence of political identity on consumer dining choice
Abstract
Food consumption and the choices made in restaurants are not matters of simple utility. As research and industry practice have revealed, consumer choices may be influenced by any number of factors. Not least of these is the menu. This paper investigates whether political identity as an aspect of social identity influences consumer behaviour in restaurants. A (3 × 2) multivariate analysis of covariance was employed to understand the relationships between the dependent variables and the three menu treatments. Results indicate a significant interactive effect of political identity and menu verbiage for both liberal and conservative respondents. Conservatives responded more favourably to affective menu verbiage, and liberal respondents responded favourably to sustainable menu verbiage. The paper also considers the covariance of identity importance and strength in the overall analysis. The results can inform restaurant operators as to two crucial needs of the consumer (ie menu quality and the ability to express one’s identity), which must be satisfied to influence consumer purchase behaviour. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection, which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.
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Author's Biography
Darryl Mickler is the Senior Vice President of Food and Beverage at Golden Corral Corp. He has decades of experience in the restaurant business. He has served as the Corporate Executive Chef for Live Hospitality and Entertainment, the Senior Director of Global Research & Development Culinary Development for Hard Rock International, the Associate Vice President of Culinary Development for Aramark, to name a few. His work in the field of hospitality, combined with his knowledge and expertise in menu development, inspired this paper for his Executive Doctorate of Business Administration dissertation.
Tracy H. Kizer is an Associate Professor at the Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College. Her research focuses on the intersection of identity and consumer behaviour and its impact on branding, ideological consumptions and brand activism. She has been published by the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of Promotion Management, Journal of Marketing Communications, among others.
