How personality traits and intrinsic personal characteristics influence the consumer's choice of reduced-calorie food

Individual differences in functional food consumption: The role of time perspective and the Big Five personality traits

Prior research suggests inconsistent relationships between individuals' personality traits, time perspective, and specific behavior. In a large representative sample of Norwegian consumers (N = 810), we investigated the relationships between the Big Five personality traits, domain-specific consideration of future consequences (CFC), and consumption of functional foods. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesized associations. Both CFC-Future and CFC-Immediate were positively related to the consumption of functional foods, whereas personality traits exerted no direct influence on consumption. Several significant associations between personality traits and CFC-Future and CFC-Immediate were found, and three of the five personality traits-Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism-exerted indirect effects on consumption frequency via CFC-Future. Results support an integrative and hierarchical understanding of how personality traits and time perspective interact in explaining variation in functional food consumption. The findings support the notion that (domain-specific) CFC is better conceptualized as two distinct-albeit related constructs-that are shaped, in part, by broader personality traits.

Effect of Carrot Pomace Powder and Dushab (Traditional Grape Juice Concentrate) on the Physical and Sensory Properties of Cakes: A Combined Mixtures Design Approach

Background:

Carrot pomace powder (CPP), a valuable by-product of carrot processing, and Dushab, a traditional grape juice concentrate, can be utilized for enrichment of products.

Methods:

Combined mixtures methodology using D-optimal design was found to be an effective technique to investigate the effects of replacing wheat flour and sucrose with CPP and Dushab on water activity, moisture content, specific volume, crumb color and textural properties of cakes and their sensory evaluation.

Results:

Moisture content, color difference and browning index of cakes increased with an increase in the amount of CPP and Dushab substitution. The specific volume of the cakes reduced in the supplemented CPP and Dushab cakes. By increasing the level of CPP and Dushab, the firmness of the cakes increased whereas cohesiveness decreased. Chewiness and gumminess were not affected by Dushab substitution but increased by the increment of CPP. Dushab substitution led to the decline of cake springiness compared to the control one. The least sensory accepted product, with a mean score of 0.7 in a scale from 0 to 1, had the maximum substitution of CPP (24% wheat flour) and Dushab (100% sucrose).

Conclusion:

The optimization tool indicated that a functional cake with high desirability can be achieved with the substitution of 10% wheat flour by CPP and 65% sucrose by Dushab.

Personality traits and preferences for specialty coffee: Results from a coffee shop field experiment

The market for specialty coffee is growing as consumer preferences for high quality coffee become more complex. Identifying the sources of heterogeneity in consumer preferences for specialty coffee is essential to optimizing producer marketing strategies to ensure they both fully capitalize on and satisfy consumer demand. One source of increasing interest is consumer personality profiles, specifically those categorized by the Big Six personality traits. We use the Midlife Development Inventory to investigate the effect of consumer personality traits on willingness to pay for coffee produced by farmer cooperatives. Results from a field experiment using a Becker-DeGroot-Marschak mechanism indicate that, on average, consumers are willing to pay a $1.31 premium for a cup of pour over coffee that was produced by a cooperative member farmer. Consumers exhibiting the extraversion and conscientiousness traits were, on average, willing to pay an even higher premium while those with higher levels of agency had a lower willingness to pay. Results further highlight that sociodemographic characteristics do not always drive consumer purchase decisions and, in the absence of significant sociodemographic influence, intrinsic consumer characteristics like personality traits can better explain preferences.