Fresh from the Source: How Shopping Practices Shape Perceptions of Local Food Healthiness
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2025-07-07
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en
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This thesis examines how shopping environments shape perceptions of local food healthiness. Although local food is often associated with health due to perceptions of freshness, minimal processing, and short supply chains, existing research often sees these as individual beliefs. This study adopts Consumer Culture Theory and uses Practice Theory as its enabling lens to examine how such perceptions are shaped through everyday routines and material contexts.
The research is based on semi-structured interviews with Dutch consumers and an analysis of newspaper articles on local food and health. The findings are structured using the Nested Practice Model, developed for this thesis, which identifies how materials (e.g., packaging, store layout), competences (e.g., food knowledge, label literacy), and meanings (e.g., trust, authenticity, moral values) interact to form health-related beliefs in shopping environments.
The results show that perceived healthiness is not defined only by nutrition labels or product ingredients. Instead, it is experienced through the practice of shopping in specific environments, involving interactions with physical spaces, sensory cues, and familiar routines. These experiences contribute to a broader sense of what is considered healthy, often involving emotional and cultural associations with local food.
This study contributes to marketing literature on local food consumption by offering a practice-based understanding of how health perceptions are shaped in everyday shopping contexts. It also contributes to Consumer Culture Theory by showing how meaning is sustained through routine practices. Additionally, it extends Servicescape Theory by demonstrating that shopping environments influence long-term beliefs, not just short-term behaviour. The findings offer practical implications for retailers, marketers, and policymakers by showing how store design, presentation, and communication shape trust and reinforce perceived health benefits.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen