“You Feel Like My Blood, So I Buy Your Food” Can Consumers’ Experience of Kinship Account for Preferring Local Foods?

In this study, local food consumption is viewed for the first time from the perspective of kin selection theory. Two large surveys were conducted to explore the links between consumers’ experience of kinship (genetic vs. psychological) and preferring local food products. First, the grocery shop intercept study (n=501) revealed that consumers’ kinship experience is associated with preferring local cheese, cereal, tinned meat and biscuit brands to non-local ones. Second, a web-survey (n=828) produced further evidence suggesting that consumers’ psychological kinship experience is more strongly related to preferring local foods than their genetic kinship experience. These novel results spur several theoretical and managerial implications and lay down a rich avenue for future research.