Preference for local food as a matter of helping behaviour: Insights from Norway

Consumption of local food is a fast-growing trend supported by local food advocates and governments. This has also captured the interest of researchers. The present study draws from the foundational principles of theoretical perspective of helping behaviour with a view to enhancing the understanding of why people buy food. This article tests a conceptual framework with proposed relationships between helping behaviour and local food-buying behaviour within a Norwegian context. Local food consumers in Troms County surveyed, and the results indicate that empathic concern and social concern influence their attitude towards, preference for, local food. Local patriotism influences the preference for local food even if such consumers it as being of lower quality and less desirable than other food products. This study is among the first to local food-buying behaviour through the lens of prosocial helping behaviour theory. The recommendations for local food producers and local food advocates regarding appealing to consumers’ prosocial behaviour propose communication strategies emphasizing the difficulties that local food producers face, local food producers as people deserving of help against national competition and imports, and them as being as loyal to the local community as the local food consumers are.