The effects of political ideology on consumer behavior regarding flavor preference

Abstract

Even though this field is rather recently studied, linkages between political ideology and consumer behavior were identified in the past. Several findings are based on certain psychological drivers, which indicate that motivational forces and inherent tendencies influence which political ideology we follow as well as the behavior of individuals in a consumption context. Based on studies that reveal more openness of liberals than conservatives towards new or novel products, this master thesis analyzes if this observation can also be applied on the openness and willingness to try rather untypical and non-classic flavors. Hence, it is tested if political ideology has an effect on the preference of consumers with respect to traditional and non-traditional flavors, that was analyzed on a conscious and unconscious level. The conducted research shows that an effect could only be found regarding a self-evaluation of participants about their willingness to try a new flavor of a product they already know, namely it could be observed that left-wing individuals rate the probability of them trying the new taste as lower in comparison to moderate/neutral people. Two more analyses, one that was also directly asking and another one that was testing the flavor preference without the participants knowing, resulted in insignificant findings. Therefore, it can be concluded that liberals are not more open to try non-traditional, rather untypical tastes than conservatives.

Date of Award	25 Jan 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Daniel Fernandes (Supervisor)