engleski

THE IMPORTANCE OF VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES ON CONSUMER ATTITUDES ABOUT HEALTHY NUTRITION

With the growing consumer awareness of healthy dieting, the interest of consumers for concrete information regarding it is also growing. Therefore, consumers are getting involved in various virtual communities (VC) on social networks through which they receive information from other consumers, share experiences and give recommendations for certain products. This leads to the electronic word of mouth (eWOM), which is influencing consumer attitudes and beliefs. In this regard, this paper aims to explore how VC Low carb high fat (LCHF) and Paleo diets, passed down through eWOM, influence consumer attitudes about dieting and the perception of products they consider healthy. The empirical research was conducted through an online survey questionnaire in VC on Facebook on a random sample of 137 respondents. The results of the study were obtained by a descriptive statistical analysis and indicate that practitioners of VC LCHF and Paleo diet have attitudes consistent with the views of the community, i.e. they adopt attitudes that the community promotes and influence each other by encouraging healthy food purchases through eWOM. The limitation of the study mainly regards the small sample size and possible other factors that influence the attitudes of VC members. Future studies should include a larger number of claims in the verification of respondents' attitudes and, for example, compare them with the attitudes of non-VC respondents. The findings of the study could provide marketers with a better understanding of consumer behavior in VC and provide guidelines for creating an effective marketing mix in the context of healthy dieting

consumer behavior, eWOM, healthy dieting, LCHF, Paleo, virtual communities

nije evidentirano