I Will Recommend A Salad but Choose A Burger for You: the Effect of Decision Tasks and Social Distance on Food Decisions for Others

While food decisions are usually personal, consumers often need to make these decisions for other people. In this research, we examine how consumers make food decisions under two decision tasks (recommendation vs. choice) and for others who are socially distant or close to themselves. We argue that consumers focus on others’ preferences when choosing on others’ behalf, whereas they focus on decision justification when recommending to others. In three experimental studies we show that consumers make different choices versus recommendations for others, and this difference is more pronounced in the decisions for distant (vs. close) others. These findings contribute to the literature on decision making and food consumption by identifying the conditions under which consumers are likely to make healthy or unhealthy food decisions for other people. These findings also provide practical implications for consumers to make (better) decisions for others and assess the decisions that others have made for them.