The homemade food market: An empirical analysis of potential factors determining consumer behaviour

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the combined effect of sensory variables, information and attitudinal constructs in the prediction of consumer behaviour towards homemade food. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative survey-based study was carried out in Lima, Peru, with subjects involved in making household food purchasing decisions. A sensory test was performed and respondents were asked about their degree of liking (DOL) and intention to buy (ITB) a specific homemade food product. Ordinary least squares was used to identify predictors of DOL and ITB. Findings - Information about homemade characteristics affects neither the sensory evaluation of a homemade food product nor the dependent variables. The sensory attributes were the most important predictors of overall DOL, whereas buying intention was strongly influenced by the overall liking of the product. Attitude towards homemade food significantly predicted both dependent variables as well. While the importance given to extrinsic cues had a negative effect on overall DOL, food enjoyment positively affected ITB. Research limitations/implications – Bias in some socio-demographic aspects and the fact that only one homemade product category was assessed in a specific location do not allow for generalisations. The use of negative-to-positive response scales might also have biased the results of this study. Originality/value –To the best of the authors knowledge, this is the first research paper that analyse the combined effect of information, socio-demographic, psychographic and sensory variables in the prediction of consumer behaviour towards homemade food.