Vegetable interventions at unconventional occasions: the effect of freely available snack vegetables at workplace meetings on consumption

PurposeSnacks at work are often of poor dietary quality. The main objective of the current study is to examine the effect of making vegetable snacks available at workplace meetings on consumption.Design/methodology/approachIn three between-subjects field experiments conducted at a hospital and three ministries in the Netherlands, with meeting as the unit of condition assignment, attendees were exposed to an assortment of vegetables, varying in vegetable variety and presence of promotional leaflet in study 1 (N = 136 meetings), serving container in study 2 (N = 88 meetings) and additional presence of cookies in study 3 (N = 88 meetings). Consumption of vegetables and cookies was measured at meeting level to assess grams consumed per person.FindingsAcross the three studies, average consumption per meeting attendee was 74 g (SD = 43) for study 1; 78 g (SD = 43) for study 2 and 87 g (SD = 35) for study 3. In the first study, manipulation of perceived variety and information leaflets did not affect intake. In the second study, significantly more vegetables were eaten when they were offered in single sized portions (M = 97 g, SD = 45) versus in a shared multiple portions bowl (63 g, SD = 38) (p < 0.001). In the third study, no effect was found of the additional availability of cookies on vegetable consumption during the meeting.Practical implicationsThe present studies show how availability of vegetables at unconventional occasions makes meeting attendants consume considerable portions of vegetables on average. As such, offering healthy snacks at the workplace may be a valuable part of workplace health promotion programs and positively change the “office cake culture”.Originality/valueVegetable intake is less than recommended in many countries worldwide. Many snacking occasions are at work, which makes office meetings a potential consumption occasion to encourage vegetable intake. Hence, the aim of this study is to examine whether free availability of vegetable snacks during meetings contributes to their consumption among meeting attendees and under what conditions consumption is optimal.

Incorporating Consumer Product Categorizations into Shelf Layout Design

Using one field and two online lab experiments, this article shows that congruency between shelf layout and a consumer’s internal product categorization increases the perceived variety of the assortment and reduces the perceived complexity of the shelf layout. These assortment perceptions, in turn, heighten purchase intention and satisfaction toward the chosen item. Results are robust across internal categorization measurements (planogram design vs. sorting tasks), congruency measures (distance- vs. matching-based), and products (biscuits vs. yogurt snacks). In the field study, familiarity—operationalized as either consumption frequency or subjective product knowledge—increased the overall effect of categorization congruency and strengthened its pathway through perceived variety (vs. the one through complexity). The authors show how their research can be exploited to improve shelf layouts by optimizing the external categorization. They demonstrate the value of a unifying Bayesian framework for research on behavioral decision making that uses the same set of posterior parameter draws for parameter inference, moderated mediation analysis, and optimization under uncertainty.

Effect of Impulsivity Traits on Food Choice within a Nudging Intervention

Food choices are often driven by impulsive tendencies rather than rational consideration. Some individuals may find it more difficult resisting impulses related to unhealthy food choices, and low self-control and high impulsivity have been suggested to be linked to these behaviors. Recent shifts have been made towards developing strategies that target automatic processes of decision-making and focus on adjusting the environment, referred to as nudging interventions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of impulsivity traits on food choices within a nudging intervention (increased perceived variety). A total of 83 adults participated in an experimental study consisting of a self-service intelligent buffet. Impulsivity traits were measured using the UPPS-P impulsivity scale. General linear models were fitted to evaluate the effect of the five impulsivity traits on the difference of salad consumption (g) between the control and intervention situations. Results showed that impulsivity does not affect food choices in this nudging situation, suggesting that nudging works independently of the participant’s impulsivity score. Results also showed a significantly higher consumption of salad in the nudging versus the control setting (17.6 g, p < 0.05), suggesting that nudging interventions can be effective in significantly increasing total vegetable consumption across the whole impulsivity scale.

Colour maps for fisheries acoustic echograms

Echograms are used to visualize fisheries acoustic data, but choice of colour map has a significant effect on appearance. Quantitative echograms should use colour maps, which are colourful (have a perceived variety and intensity of colours), sequential (have monotonic lightness), and perceptually uniform (have consistency of perceived colour contrast over their range). We measure whether colour maps are colourful (M^(3)&gt;0), sequential (rs=±1), and perceptually uniform (ρ = 1) using an approximately perceptually uniform colour space (CIELAB). Whilst all the fisheries acoustic colour maps tested are colourful, none is sequential or perceptually uniform. The widely used EK500 colour map is extremely colourful (M^(3)=186), not sequential (rs=0.06), and has highly uneven perceptual contrast over its range (ρ=0.26). Of the fisheries acoustic colour maps tested, the Large Scale Survey System default colour map is least colourful (M^(3)=79), but comes closest to being sequential (rs=−0.94), and perceptually uniform (ρ=0.95). Modern colour maps have been specifically designed for colour contrast consistency, accessibility for viewers with red-green colour-blindness, and legibility when printed in monochrome, and may be better suited to the presentation and interpretation of quantitative fisheries acoustic echograms.

Variety-Seeking Behavior and Information Processing in Choosing a Vacation Destination

This study investigates broad versus specific levels of perceived variety seeking when choosing a vacation destination. In general, consumers use two criteria to evaluate where to vacation: the novelty of the destination relative to their current place and the potential variety of activities offered. Consumers’ perception about these criteria is regulated at a broad level through spatial distance information, and at a specific level through activity information. Findings from experiments indicate that people prefer taking vacations to distant (vs. close) places. However, when both types of vacation information are available, people prefer a destination with more activities regardless of spatial distance. Process evidence suggests that analytic (vs. holistic) information processing and variety seeking at a specific (vs. broad) level drive the findings.

How store flyers design affect perceived variety of retailers’ assortment

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between several aspects of store flyers design (presence of a institutional slogan, type of product (national brand (NB) or store brand (SB)) featured on the cover page, the size of the flyer, number of featured NBs, type of brand (NB vs SB) on promotion, and price difference between the most expensive (NB) and the cheapest SB) and the consumer’s perceived variety of the retailer’s assortment, as a dimension of its global image.Design/methodology/approachA mixed laboratory experiment that combined a between-subjects experimental design and inter-subject conjoint analysis was conducted. A fictitious flyer from a fictitious supermarket was created that included both real NBs and fictitious SBs. In total, 12 scenarios (i.e. flyers) were tested using a sample of 406 participants.FindingsAnalysis suggests that longer flyers have the greatest influence on consumers’ perceived variety of a retailer’s assortment; a greater number of NBs in a category influenced consumers’ perceptions positively, and featuring SBs on the cover enhanced perceived variety. If a retailer features SBs on a flyer’s cover, longer flyers are recommended, and shorter flyers are recommended if NBs are featured on the cover. A retailer should promote its own brand only if the most expensive NBs are featured with SBs.Research limitations/implicationsThis study analyses a single aspect of consumers’ purchasing behaviors – variety of a retailer’s assortment. Future research should examine other variables related to consumers’ purchasing behaviors. This study uses an online context to test hypotheses, but many aspects of flyer design are physical. Future research should test current findings in offline contexts to compare results. Research should also explore moderation by consumer variables such as brand and store loyalty.Practical implicationsTo researchers, the authors offer improved understanding of how a flyer’s design affects the first stage of purchasing. To practitioners, results offer better understanding of positive returns on investment of store flyers, and to retailers, results offer a guide to creating and organizing flyers.Originality/valueThis study is first to assess how a flyer’s design influences a dimension of store image. Unlike extant research that examines store flyers using econometric models at the aggregate level, this study uses a laboratory experiment that combines a between-subjects design with conjoint analysis.

Retailer–Consumer Sustainable Business Environment: How Consumers’ Perceived Benefits Are Translated by the Addition of New Retail Channels

In the current era, consumers are living in a multi-channel shopping environment. Retailers are expanding their business channels to get the most out of their ongoing multi-channel businesses and to create a sustainable shopping environment for consumers. The extant literature is quite elaborative about the impact of new online channels on retailers, but a very limited part of the said literature discusses the impact of adding both new online/offline channels to the retailers’ existing business channels and the perceived benefits they create for consumers. This paper makes the comparison of multi-channel additions and their impacts on consumer benefits in creating a sustainable retailer–consumer business environment. This dimension of research is quite new regarding the subject of multi-channel shopping. In this paper, a simulated experimental design is adopted to analyze the impact of the multi-channel structure with a mix of different product types (experience and search) and the perceived benefit to consumers (perceived variety, perceived convenience, and perceived risk). The results show that, compared to the newly added offline channels, newly added online channels can make consumers more aware of the overall variety, increase perceived convenience, and reduce perceived risk. However, for retailers selling search products, the newly added online channel does not create any significant difference to the consumers’ overall perceived variety of the retailers.