Tino Bech-Larsen

Aarhus University | AU · Department of Management

This paper reports the estimation of an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM), examining how meal preparation focus –measured by taste, context, and thrift–affect actor’s and partner’s satisfaction with food-related life (SWFRL) in cohabiting couples. Questionnaires were administered to 187 different-sex couples in Denmark. Both members of the...

Purpose The increased acknowledgement of the problems associated with food waste has triggered a number of social and commercial initiatives for the re-distribution of suboptimal foods (SOFs). This paper aims to explore a variety of such initiatives and discuss their prospects, considering the commercial contingencies of the food supply system. D...

Research into consumers’ cooking competences mostly focuses on the nutritional qualities of the resulting meals and relies on non-cumulative measures of cooking skills. In response, the current article reports on several studies designed to construct and validate a set of cumulative scales to measure consumers’ cooking knowledge and experience as w...

Increasingly, providers of institutional catering consider moving to the procurement of organic food. Although ample research has investigated the determinants of consumption of organic foods in private households, such consumption in institutional settings raises questions of citizen support rather than consumer choice. Therefore, the purpose of t...

The impact of healthy eating policies falls behind policy maker’s expectations. Better targeting and stakeholder support should improve their effectiveness. The research aims to identify whether a target group (the group impacted by the policy measure) is characterised by higher acceptance levels or not. Acceptance among citizens from the target wa...

Despite its relevance to retailers, studies of consumers’ deal knowledge have been few. This study explores consumers’ deal knowledge before, during, and after the store visit applying a between-subjects field-study design with 1204 respondents. In particular, the authors investigate perception of deal price status, typical deal price knowledge, an...

A few years after the turn of the millennium innovative restaurants in Copenhagen started to offer menus prepared entirely from ingredients of Nordic origin. Some of the dishes were a remix of traditional Nordic staples, while others contained items which had not previously – or at least not since the previous fin de mille – been used for human con...

World Health Organization estimates that obesity accounts for 2-8% of health care costs in different parts of Europe, and highlights a key role for national policymaking in curbing the epidemic. A variety of healthy-eating policy instruments are available, ranging from more paternalistic policies to those less intrusive. Our aim is to measure and e...

In the past decade, food waste has received increased attention on both academic and societal levels. As a cause of negative economic, environmental and social effects, food waste is considered to be one of the sustainability issues that needs to be addressed. In developed countries, consumers are one of the biggest sources of food waste. To succes...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe two exploratory studies of how experience (lacking, failed, or successful) of trying to implement healthy eating behaviours influences future intentions to maintain and expand such behaviours (so called “spillover”). Design/methodology/approach – The two survey-based (n=2,120) studies involved Dan...

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to study the extent of change in parents' fruit and vegetable consumption during a period when their children participate in a school-based healthy eating intervention. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 256 12-year-old Danish schoolchildren took part in a text-message feedback intervention promoting fruit...

Purpose – Although adolescents and older adults are often targets for nutritional change interventions, little has been done to explore how people in these transitional life phases perceive the matter themselves. The aim of this paper is to explore and compare adolescents' and older adults' own perceptions of the barriers and facilitators of a chan...

While sales flyer ad spending in Denmark has increased over the last decade, the proportion of consumers declining to receive such flyers has been ever-increasing. To address this paradox, attitudinal and behavioural factors distinguishing passive recipients from active decliners of sales flyers are examined. The results reveal that decliners compa...

The objective of our research was to explore and discuss the challenges and opportunities inherent to the management of public healthy eating campaigns. The discussion is based on a study of campaign managers’ perceptions of nine successfully implemented European healthy eating campaigns. Based on these interviews, we suggest that social marketing...

The paper presents the design and results of a goal-setting and feedback intervention aimed at increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables. The intervention involved 256 Danish adolescents (aged 12), and consisted of a nutrition education programme and an SMS-based diary and feedback procedure that involved setting and modifying consumption goa...

Purpose ‐ The purpose of the study was to apply the theory of planned behavior to predict Danish adolescents' behavioral intention for healthy eating. Design/methodology/approach ‐ A cluster sample survey of 410 students aged 11 to 16 years studying in Grade 6 to Grade 10 was conducted in Denmark. Findings ‐ Perceived behavioral control followed by...

The chapter focuses on cultural differences in consumption across Europe and describes general attitudes towards consumption and brands, the significance of shopping, and how these are linked to the motives of consumption of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. These topics have been analysed using the Hofstede dimensions, and the evaluation also co...

Introduction: Public campaigns and interventions are rarely fully evaluated regarding their effectiveness. The analysis of past, successful activities can contribute to the future development of public campaigns and interventions for healthier eating. Objectives: The study of public campaigns and interventions for healthier eating aimed at ident...

Introduction: Public campaigns and interventions are rarely fully evaluated regarding their effectiveness. The analysis of past, successful activities can contribute to the future development of public campaigns and interventions for healthier eating. Objectives: The study of public campaigns and interventions for healthier eating aimed at identify...

It is widely considered that public measures to improve healthy eating have been rather unsuccessful. It is hoped that new approaches will be developed from EATWELL, an EU research project on factors influencing the success of food marketing, particularly factors related to health. The results of this qualitative study are presented in this article...

Purpose Healthy‐eating socialization is often described as a bi‐directional process, but there are only few studies on children and parent's roles in the process. This paper aims to investigate children and parents' accounts of awareness and involvement in healthy eating and how they relate it to their roles in healthy‐eating socialization. Design...

Public policy activities to promote healthy diets have been criticised for their lack of success. Applying a marketing approach to non-commercial policy objectives such as healthy eating, termed social marketing, is an emerging but as yet underdeveloped field. An earlier study conducted a case analysis of recent successful commercial food marketing...

Grocery retailers aim to satisfy customers, and because grocery shopping trips are frequently recurring, they must do so continuously. Surprisingly, little research has addressed satisfaction with individual grocery shopping trips. This article therefore develops a conceptual framework for analyzing customer satisfaction with individual grocery sho...

This article discusses the implementation and diffusion of mandatory and voluntary food safety regulations from a marketing systems perspective, and specifically applies this framework to an analysis of the antecedents and implications of the Danish 2003 ban on trans-fatty acids (TFAs). The analysis is based on reviews of published material and on...

This review provides a classification of public policies to promote healthier eating as well as a structured mapping of existing measures in Europe. Complete coverage of alternative policy types was ensured by complementing the review with a selection of major interventions from outside Europe. Under the auspices of the Seventh Framework Programme'...

Commercial food marketing has considerably shaped consumer food choice behaviour. Meanwhile, public health campaigns for healthier eating have had limited impact to date. Social marketing suggests that successful commercial food marketing campaigns can provide useful lessons for public sector activities. The aim of the present study was to empirica...

Many prepared and take‐away foods contain high levels of ‘unhealthy’ nutrients such as salt, trans and saturated fats and sugar. As diets have developed to include higher proportions of these products, consumers intakes have grown beyond World Health Organisation recommended maximum levels. Countries have responded by regulatory action (Denmark’s b...

To identify and assess healthy eating policies at national level which have been evaluated in terms of their impact on awareness of healthy eating, food consumption, health outcome or cost/benefit. Review of policy documents and their evaluations when available. European Member States. One hundred and twenty-one policy documents revised, 107 retain...

When the buyer and the consumer of a food product are not identical, the risk of discrepancies between food quality expectations and experience is even higher than when the buyer is also the consumer. In such situations the interpersonal aspects of food quality formation become the focus of attention.The purpose of this article is to discuss the in...

Purpose This article aims to examine young consumers' perceptions of healthy eating, contexts where healthy or unhealthy eating are practiced, and their evaluation of regulatory measures that discourage the consumption of unhealthy foods in two different markets. Design/methodology/approach A convenience sampled survey was conducted of 386 Danish...

Every now and then, astonishing success stories can be observed on the food market. Many of the recent examples make reference to health characteristics and arguments. In order to analyse the possibly underlying success factors, an empirical case study approach was chosen. 27 successful European Union food marketing cases were purposively sampled f...

A survey was conducted of 386 Danish and Hong Kong adolescents aged 11 to 16. Results showed that the consumption of relatively unhealthy food was common among respondents. Looking at socializing agents, respondents claimed that parents asked them to eat healthy food more often than the government publicity, teachers, or friends. Parents were also...

Purpose Snacking has been characterized as normatively unrestricted and identified as one of the main causes of adolescent obesity. The purpose of this paper is not to question the relation between obesity and snacking, but to ask to which extent adolescent snacking is socially unrestricted and to explore adolescent perceptions of the potential con...

Brand love is a recent marketing construct, which has been shown to influence important marketing variables such as brand loyalty and word-of-mouth. Although this knowledge is academically interesting, its managerial relevance depends on the identification of actionable antecedents of brand love. This study adds to the understanding of the manageri...

The use of vignettes for qualitative consumer research is discussed in this article. More specifically, vignettes are proposed as a useful research technique for conducting systematic and rigorous studies of consumer interaction processes, in particular as these relate to family consumption issues. Following an overview of methodological and practi...

Although in several EU Member States many public interventions have been running for the prevention and/or management of obesity and other nutritionrelated health conditions, few have yet been formally evaluated. The multidisciplinary team of the EATWELL project will gather benchmark data on healthy eating interventions in EU Member States and revi...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore Chinese adolescents' perceptions of healthy eating, their perceptions of various socializing agents shaping their eating habits, and their opinions about various regulatory measures which might be imposed to encourage healthy eating. Design/methodology/approach Four focus group interview sessions wer...

Willingness to pay (WTP) for a basic chilled soup product and for an improved, self-heating version was measured by methods experimentally varied according to a 2 × 3 design, varying the basic measurement approach (contingent valuation, experimental auction, conjoint analysis) and the use of real vs. game money. Measurement protocols for each appro...

This article discusses how the brand architecture of grocery retailers set material and symbolic boundaries for consumer choice, thus limiting consumer sovereignty. The article first discusses previous work on store atmospherics, servicescapes and brand architecture. It is argued that work based on these concepts has taken an internal management pe...

This article examines the values and motivations of South African biltong hunters. A hierarchical value map of associations between attributes, consequences and values resulted from laddering interviews with 34 hunters. The Means-End Chain approach proved useful in identifying: (a) personal values, (b) wildlife value orientations, and (c) motivatio...

Purpose This study aims to explore perceptions of healthy/unhealthy eating, and perceptions of various socializing agents encouraging healthy eating, amongst Chinese adolescents. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted of 152 seventh, eighth and ninth grade Hong Kong students. A structured questionnaire with closed‐ended questions was d...

The emerging problem of obesity and other dietary diseases has increased consumers’ consciousness towards healthier food choices. For consumers the value of health has become a fundamental driver of their eating behaviour (Grunert and Wills 2007). As a response to this, the food industry has focused in capitalizing based on the value of health for...

The fact that the European markets for functional foods generally are less developed, compared to the US and the Japanese markets, has often been attributed to a restrictive and inconsistent health claim legislation in and between the European countries. With the European Parliament's second reading of the main principles of the harmonized regulati...

Purpose The objective of this article is to conduct a case study of the Supermalt brand of malt beer, which has become the preferred beverage of Afro‐Caribbean consumers in Brixton on a very limited marketing budget. Design/methodology/approach The article uses the concepts of personal identity and brand identity in a qualitative study to explore...

As a result of the increased competition between self-service chains, retail managers to an increasing degree try to strengthen store identity and customer loyalty. Based on a broad range of consumer choice and environmental psychology theories, this article discusses a number of reasons why the fruit and vegetable department can be one of the keys...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how three dimensions of retailer brand architecture – share or retailer brands, quality of retailer brands and visibility of retailer brands – affect consumer intention to shop at stores Design/methodology/approach A conjoint analysis is conducted with a sample of 599 Danish consumers, which rate...

In the Western world market shares for store brands have increased across all product categories. The competitive position of store brands compared to national brands may depend on the product category and a retail chain's overall brand assortment strategy. In order to investigate these possible chain and category effects we have selected five chai...

Food retailers present consumers with a complex market offering. They offer consumers an assortment of products sourced from numerous suppliers, along with various services within a retailer-controlled environment (Burt & Sparks 2002). Food retailers aim to offer an assortment of products and perform a variety of activities and services, which prov...

It is a common approach to explain choice option attractiveness by beliefs about the choice option. The means-end chain model is used to distinguish between various types of beliefs, depending on whether the belief links the choice option to attributes, consequences, or values related to the choice option. The laddering method is used to elicit bel...

European consumers are skeptical towards genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food production, and their willingness to buy such products is low. Previous research also shows that these attitudes are quite resistant to attempts to change them by giving additional information. The aim of the study was to investigate if positive sensory experienc...

Functional foods presumably enable the consumer to lead a healthier life without changing eating habits. Whether consumers accept this proposition or not is potentially influenced by their perceptions of the healthiness of the processing methods, enrichment components, food-types, and health claims used in the production and marketing of functional...

European consumers, in general, have negative attitudes towards the use of gene technology in food production. The objective of this study was to examine whether taste and health benefits influence the acceptability of genetically modified (gm) products when they are presented as real product alternatives. Consumers in Denmark, Finland, Norway and...

The purpose of the study presented in this article is to examine whether the concepts developed in the area of industrial buying behavior can add to the understanding of commodity purchasing behavior, and segmentation of commodity markets. The industrial market for vegetable oil was chosen as the outset of the study, because it is characterized by...

Functional foods is a relatively new concept covering food products enriched with various kinds of (natural) substances (eg vitamins, minerals or probiotic cultures) or modified so as to provide consumers with an additional physiological benefit presumed to prevent disease or promote health, without them having to change their eating habits fundame...

It is argued that consumer quality perception of dairy products is characterised by four major dimensions: hedonic, health-related, convenience-related and process-related quality. Two of these, viz., health and process-related quality, are credence dimensions, i.e. a matter of consumer trust in communication provided. Drawing on five different emp...

This paper presents the preliminary results of a conjoint study of 750 Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish consumers' preferences for genetically modified and conventional cheese with different types of health benefits. The results showed homogeneity in preferences within as well as across countries. In general, the genetically modified cheese w...

Traditionally, the development of advertising messages has been based on ‘creative independence’, sometimes catalysed by inductively generated empirical data. Due to the recent intensified focus on advertising effectiveness, this state of affairs is beginning to change. The purpose of the study described in this article is to compare the developmen...

The critical first step for most instruments used in analysing consumer choice and motivation is the identification of product attributes which are important to the consumer and for which there are differences among the available product alternatives. A number of techniques, ranging from the complex elicitation of idiosyncratic attributes or simple...

A means-end approach is proposed to analyse cross-cultural differences in product preferences, product perception and purchase motives. Using a modified version of the laddering technique, data on consumer preference, perception and purchase motives concerning vegetable oil were collected in Denmark, England and France. The results show considerabl...

This paper presents the results of a study of Danish consumers' attitudes to packaging and the importance of the environmental and functional characteristics of packaging for their purchasing decisions. The aim is to evaluate whether and how purchasing behaviour can be influenced in such a way as to limit the environmental problems caused by packag...

Food packaging is an important source of consumer convenience. However, food packaging also constitutes a major fraction of household garbage production. Until recently research in packaging and consumer behaviour has mainly focused on the communicative aspects of packaging. This paper describes a study of Danish consumer views about the functional...

As a result of the increased competition between self-service chains, retail managers try to strengthen store identity and customer loyalty to an increasing degree. In this respect a number of measures, as for example service management and direct marketing programmes, have been instigated. Most of these developments have concentrated on the periph...

Values are defined as abstract concepts or beliefs which pertain to desirable goals or endstates that transcend specific behaviour (Schwartz & Bilsky, 1987, 1990; Schwartz, 1992) and which therefore have a strong influence on peo ple's cognitive processes (Schwartz, 1992). In general, values are perceived as the criteria people use as guidelines fo...

Die Bevölkerung zu einer ausgewogeneren Ernährung zu bewegen ist nicht leicht und braucht eine Vielzahl von Ansätzen. Erfahrungen mit Erfolgsfaktoren aus dem kommerziellen Lebensmittelmarketing können helfen, öffentliche Kampagnen und Interventionen zu stärken. Dieser Beitrag stellt eine Fallstudie europäischer Erfolgsbeispiele im Marketing gesundh...