Impact of Consumers' Health Beliefs, Health involvement and Risk Perception on Fish Consumption : A Study in Five European Countries

Purpose - To investigate the impact of consumers' health beliefs, involvement, and risk perception on fish consumption in five European countries.Design/methodology/approach - Cross-sectional data were collected through the SEAFOODplus pan-European consumer survey (n=4,786) with samples representative for age and region in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain and Poland. Structural equation modeling (LISREL) was used in order to simultaneously estimate the strength and direction of all relationships in our model. Our model contributes to a better understanding of factors influencing fish consumption. Health involvement is found as an indirect whilst interest in healthy eating emerges as a direct driver of fish consumption behaviour. On the contrary, risk perception has a negative impact on fish consumption. Research limitations/implications - Further research using survey questionnaires could focus on a more specific product level. such as knowledge, convenience or general attitudes. This study exemplifies the need for more effective communication about healthy eating and fish consumption as a part of healthy eating pattern to the broader public. Additionally, the findings provide cross-culturally validated measures of health beliefs, involvement and risk perception to be used in further studies. Originality/value - This paper provides a unique model relating health beliefs, involvement and risk perception to fish consumption tested and validated on a pan-European large sample of consumers. Furthermore, it cross-culturally validates all the measures