Emotional responses to narrative content: A comparative study on consumer food choice intentions

Influencing consumer food choices has evolved as a multidisciplinary research area that bridges marketing, food science, and sensory experiences. However, little is known about the impact of mixed reality (MR) or interactive content narratives in MR on influencing consumers to make specific food choices. Drawing on narrative transportation theory, the current research examines the effect of MR content narratives on consumer food choice intentions and the underlying mechanism of emotional response. A single-factor between-subjects experiment with four conditions (narrative format: mixed reality, video, audio, text) was conducted with 175 participants. Results revealed a significant indirect effect of media format on food choice intention through emotional response. More specifically, our results demonstrated that, as compared to MR, audio and video narrative formats had negative effects on choice of plant-based foods due to lower levels of consumer happiness and liveliness. Our results also demonstrated that, as compared to MR, audio-based narratives had a positive effect on choice of plant-based foods due to higher levels of consumer distress. The study contributes to literature in immersive technologies and consumer choice by providing empirical evidence of the role of emotions in food choice intentions that can be triggered through mixed reality technology. This can assist restaurateurs and food marketers in leveraging immersive technologies to stimulate the food experience and choice.