Navigating Inflation: The Role of Food Values in Japanese Consumers' Price Search Intentions

Global economic instability has raised food prices and household living costs, prompting consumers to reduce grocery expenditures. Unlike recessions, inflation tightens income constraints without substantially affecting unemployment; therefore, time constraints remain largely unchanged. Although prior research has mainly examined the impact of socioeconomic factors on saving behaviour during recessions, the potential role of personal values, directly affecting consumer decision‐making, under inflationary conditions has received less attention. To fill this gap, this study examines how food values, especially price‐related food values (price‐FV), influence Japanese consumers' intentions to search for price promotions and lower‐priced stores during inflation. We conducted an online survey in March 2023, applying best–worst scaling to measure food values, followed by a bivariate probit model to estimate their effects on price‐search intentions. Our results reveal a positive association between price‐FV and consumers' intentions to seek lower prices. However, the overall effect is modest, as approximately 50% of the respondents exhibit relatively low price‐FV. Even among those with high price‐FV, the joint probability of not engaging in price‐searching remains above 0.5, suggesting that active cost‐saving efforts are not widespread. Importantly, local food retail environments moderate this relationship: Consumers with high price‐FV and moderate‐distant store locations show greater search intentions than those with very close or very distant grocery stores, even when price‐FV levels are similar. These findings indicate that although price‐FV does influence price‐search intentions, its effect is conditional on local food retail environments. Thus, retailers may need to reconsider their promotional strategies to account for heterogeneous consumer responses depending on food values.