Eating healthy to impress: How conspicuous consumption, perceived self-control motivation, and descriptive normative influence determine functional food choices

Functional foods are promoted as products that provide specific health benefits beyond basic nutrition. While a number of studies show that the motivation behind the purchase of such products is oriented towards health concerns, we argue that consumers' choice of functional food can also be driven by less health-related hedonic or social motives, such as a tendency for indulgence vs. self-control or the motivation to impress and show off. This proposition has not been systematically and empirically tested before. Hence, the aim of the present study is to reveal the relationship between conspicuous consumption, perceived self-control motivation, susceptibility to descriptive normative influence and the consumption of functional foods. Our results (N = 900) suggest that conspicuous consumption and susceptibility to descriptive normative influence are positively associated with functional food distinctiveness evaluation while perceived self-control motivation is negatively associated with such evaluation. Moreover, results further revealed the indirect effects of susceptibility to descriptive normative influence, conspicuous consumption and perceived self-control motivation on self-reported purchase rates of functional foods via the functional food distinctiveness evaluation. The findings support the relevance of social and hedonic motives for policy makers and marketers in the functional foods industry for marketing and health promotion.