FBA Seminar Series No.22/1415 – Nostalgia Increases Food Indulgence: The Role of Social Connectedness

Faculty of Business Administration
SEMINAR SERIES No. 22/1415
Marketing

Nostalgia refers to a sentimental longing for one’s past. The present research investigates how nostalgia affects food consumption. Specifically, we propose that high nostalgia, chronic or primed, can increase indulgent (vs. healthy) food consumption. This effect is driven by the feeling of social connectedness, which leads to more food indulgence. Results across five studies show that high nostalgia consumers show greater preference for indulgent foods than low nostalgia consumers. This relationship is mediated by social connectedness, such that high (low) nostalgia consumers with low (high) social connectedness are less (more) likely to engage in indulgent food consumption. In addition, we find that mortality salience moderates the effect of nostalgia and food choice, such that when mortality salience is high (vs. low), the effect of nostalgia on food choice would be strengthened (vs. weakened).

Date: March 17, 2015 (Tuesday) 

Time: 11:00~12:30 

Venue: Faculty of Business Administration, E22-1008 

A Short Biography of Prof. Keh
Prof. Keh Hean Tat serves as Professor of Marketing, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Before joining Monash University, Prof. Keh was Professor of Marketing at UQ Business School, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia and Professor of Marketing at Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing. His research interests include Services Marketing, Consumer Psychology (including Cross-Cultural Research), and Marketing Strategy. He got his BBA (Honors) in University of East Asia (now known as UM), MBA in Hong Kong University of Science & Technology and Ph.D. (Business Administration) in University of Washington, Seattle.