The Smaller, The Better: How Size Perception Influences Anticipated Guilt in Hedonic Consumption
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Previous research on food marketing has primarily focused on the trade-off between pleasant but unhealthy and healthy but less pleasant options. While consumers are aware that healthy choices are rational, they often succumb to temptations, which often result in feelings of regret and guilt. Based on the theory of bounded rationality, the current research examines how consumers justify their irrational choices to reduce their anticipated guilt. Specifically, we suggest that perceived portion size influences consumers’ anticipated guilt, which in turn affects their food choices. We propose that for pleasant but unhealthy foods(i.e. hedonic foods), perceiving the food portion smaller reduce a consumer’s anticipated guilt, which leads to higher purchase intention. The results of two experiments show that smaller perceived size leads to decreased anticipated guilt for consuming hedonic foods. Our findings show that, in the context of hedonic foods, a smaller perceived portion size may bring more positive feelings to consumers by mitigating anticipated guilt for consuming unhealthy foods. The findings offer important implications for marketing strategies, suggesting that altering size perception may help consumers justify their irrational decisions, especially for pleasant but unhealthy food consumption(e.g. dessert).
Abstract
Previous research on food marketing has primarily focused on the trade-off between pleasant but unhealthy and healthy but less pleasant options. While consumers are aware that healthy choices are rational, they often succumb to temptations, which often result in feelings of regret and guilt. Based on the theory of bounded rationality, the current research examines how consumers justify their irrational choices to reduce their anticipated guilt. Specifically, we suggest that perceived portion size influences consumers’ anticipated guilt, which in turn affects their food choices. We propose that for pleasant but unhealthy foods(i.e. hedonic foods), perceiving the food portion smaller reduce a consumer’s anticipated guilt, which leads to higher purchase intention. The results of two experiments show that smaller perceived size leads to decreased anticipated guilt for consuming hedonic foods. Our findings show that, in the context of hedonic foods, a smaller perceived portion size may bring more positive feelings to consumers by mitigating anticipated guilt for consuming unhealthy foods. The findings offer important implications for marketing strategies, suggesting that altering size perception may help consumers justify their irrational decisions, especially for pleasant but unhealthy food consumption(e.g. dessert).