Beyond consumption values: The moderating role of religiosity in local food attitudes and gastronomic tourism intentions

Aybek G., Ülker P., Fusté-Forné F.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GASTRONOMY AND FOOD SCIENCE, cilt.46, ss.1-11, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)

Özet

This paper explores whether religiousness can overshadow the positive development of attitudes towards local food by examining the impact of multiple value dimensions – quality, health, epistemic, emotional, prestige and interaction – on consumption and visit intentions. Although gastronomic tourism has largely been explained through consumption and experiential values, the role of higher-order normative values, such as religiosity, in shaping food-related tourist behavior remains underexplored. Based on consumption value theory, combined with value prioritization, a survey (N = 657) was conducted to collect data from consumers with diverse demographics, and structural equation modelling was employed for the analysis. The results indicate that epistemic, emotional and interaction values have a positive influence on attitudes towards local food, while health and prestige values have a negative effect. The results also show that attitudes towards local food strongly predict both the intention to consume it and to visit a destination for food tourism purposes. The key outcome is that religiosity moderates these relationships, with the positive effect of attitudes weakening for the higher religiousness group. This study contributes to consumer research in food tourism by providing an understanding of how value perceptions shape food attitudes and the prioritization of religion in tourists' food behaviour.