6533b871fe1ef96bd12d0be3

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Le processus de choix alimentaire et ses déterminants : vers une prise en compte des caractéristiques psychologiques du consommateur

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This thesis aims to explore new research opportunities in the food field, proposing to explicitly include psychological factors as potential determinants of food choice process. It notes the consequences of the central role of pleasure in the mechanisms of ingestion, and the specific role of taste: the highly emotional nature of food consumption leads then to retain experiential approach and more specifically sensory marketing as a framework. The issue of research aims to investigate how sensory stimuli and the information associated with the product combine to influence, in a differentiated manner depending on the individual, consumption behavior.Methodologically, the research combines conventional reporting measures concerning the psychological characteristics of the consumer, to a quasi-experimental approach conducted in sensory evaluation laboratory with 606 test subjects on a product category to strong emotional component, the milk chocolate desserts. The results confirm the relevance of experiential framework and the central role of emotional reactions. They highlight the various selection mechanisms arising from the way the consumer responds to reactions usually incongruent between the taste stimuli and the information associated with the product. Many psychological variables have different moderating effects.The managerial implications concern new food market segmentation opportunities, choice of salient sensory attributes when formulating products, and strategic consequences in terms of brand strength.In theory, this research has helped clarify and generalize the basic model of sensory marketing and propose a new way of food consumption approach, involving the psychological characteristics of the consumer.In terms of methodology, the contributions concern the integration of sensory test control variables, the measurement of individual psychological variables, and the application of structural equation modeling combining data from conventional declarative collection, and tasting data.