Food-Related Lifestyles in a Cross-Cultural Context: Comparing Australia with Singapore, Britain, France and Denmark

Abstract

As the global food marketing environment becomes more competitive, marketers will need to devise mechanisms for understanding and mapping changes in consumers’ food-related attitudes and behaviours. Such knowledge is paramount in developing and adjusting marketing strategies, building superior market-based assets, and creating a stronger consumer focus. Whilst it may be argued that food is a low-involvement product category, it can also be argued that the influence of personal and social values may not be limited to high involvement areas. It is further recognized that lifestyle is inextricably linked to values and the processes by which people seek to achieve their values through various modes of expression, including food. This research therefore employs the Food-Related Lifestyles (FRL) instrument developed by Grunert et al. (1993), which is rooted in the personal values concept, to compare lifestyles across a number of different cultural contexts including Australia, Singapore, Britain, France and Denmark. The research represents the first stage in an on-going process of mapping movements in Australian consumer food-related lifestyles and linking these to global trends and changes.

Keywords: food marketing, Australia, cross-culture, lifestyles