The impact of restaurant health inspection reports on consumer behaviors

Jinkyung Choi, Purdue University

Abstract

The primary goal of this study was to investigate the impact of restaurant health inspection reports on consumer behavioral intention. Four separate studies were conducted. First, the availability of restaurant health inspection reports was investigated on governmental websites. The second study, a pilot study, was conducted prior to the third study which adapted PMT in order to investigate behavioral intention based on health inspection reports. Lastly, the fourth study examined the effect of information source and message style on consumers‘ response to restaurant health inspection reports. The study searched websites to collect the data (Study 1) and employed questionnaires (Study 2, Study 3, and Study 4). Significances among PMT variables were found in relation to protection motivation and behavioral intention. It should be noted that protection motivation and behavioral intention did not have any relationship to each other. Protection motivation did not predict behavioral intention. The results suggested that number of violations affected the responses significantly which suggested that moderator effects were detected. Respondents appeared willing to dine at a restaurant which received fewer violations. PMT studies have been conducted in health preventive behavior and provided consistent results. However, prevention of contracting foodborne illness is not the same concept as health prevention behavior to consumers when selecting a restaurant to dine. As this was the first study applying PMT to food safety for consumers, more work is needed to validate all statements.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Nelson, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Marketing

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