Faculty of Business Seminar Series / Melis Ceylan

Title: Embarrassed by Calories: Calorie Posting Effect under the Influence of Social Context

Abstract: We investigate the effect of calorie posting and social context at the point of time when consumers make a food purchase on their intended amount of food consumption. We propose and demonstrate that whether or not the presence of calorie information provided on food labels affects the total amount of food ordered by consumers will depend on whether or not their food purchase situation can be observed by others. We further show that this joint effect of calorie posting and social context occurs through motivations of impression management because ordering excessive amount of food heightens feelings of embarrassment. As a result, consumers decrease their intended amount of food consumption to avoid socially embarrassing interactions at the point of purchase. Our results have important implications for public policy and informed food consumption because they shed light on the effectiveness of legislating mandatory calorie posting. 

Place: Meeting Room AB2-345