title: Exploring the relationship between convenience and fish consumption: a cross-cultural study.
abstract: The purpose of the present study is to explore cultural differences in the meaning of convenience and the relationships between convenience, attitudes and fish consumption in five European countries. The results suggest that the meaning of meal convenience is not culture specific, whilst the absolute levels of convenience orientation and the perceived inconvenience of fish differ between cultures. Convenience orientation was highest in Poland, followed by Spain, and was lowest in the Netherlands. The relationships between convenience orientation and attitudes towards fish, and convenience orientation and fish consumption, were insignificant in most countries. However, convenience orientation was positively related to the perceived inconvenience of fish. Perceived inconvenience of fish was negatively related to both attitudes towards fish and to fish consumption. Together, these results confirm some earlier findings that fish is generally perceived as a relatively inconvenient type of food. This study suggests that convenience orientation can be crucial to understanding food choice or behaviour only when critical mediating constructs are explored.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Science and Marketing, Norwegian College of Fishery Science, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway; Norwegian Institute of Fishery and Aquaculture Research, P.O. Box 6122, N-9291 Tromsø, Norway. sveinoo@nfh.uit.no
authors.forename: Svein Ottar
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Scholderer
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Brunsø
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Verbeke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001530:Belgium; D003296:Cooking / Q000379:methods; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003718:Denmark; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D010465:Perception; D011044:Poland; D017747:Seafood; D013030:Spain