IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i13p7935-d851573.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Influence and Meat-Eating Behaviour

Author

Listed:
  • Jiaqi Ge

    (School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK)

  • Andrea Scalco

    (Independent Researcher, 22100 Como, Italy)

  • Tony Craig

    (Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences Department, The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK)

Abstract

In recent years, interest in non-meat diets has been growing at an exponential rate in many countries. There is a wide consensus now that increased meat consumption is linked to higher health risks and environmental impact. Yet humans are social animals. Even the very personal decision of whether to eat meat or not is influenced by others around them. Using data from the British Social Attitude Survey, we develop an agent-based model to study the effect of social influence on the spread of meat-eating behaviour in the British population. We find that social influence is crucial in determining the spread of different meat-eating behaviours. According to the model, in order to bring about large-scale changes in meat-eating behaviours at the national level, people need to (1) have a strong openness to influences from others who have different meat-eating behaviour and (2) have a weak tendency to reinforce their current meat-eating behaviour after observing others in their own social group sharing the same behaviour.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiaqi Ge & Andrea Scalco & Tony Craig, 2022. "Social Influence and Meat-Eating Behaviour," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-23, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:13:p:7935-:d:851573
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/13/7935/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/13/7935/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Miller McPherson, 2004. "A Blau space primer: prolegomenon to an ecology of affiliation," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 13(1), pages 263-280, February.
    2. William Barnes & Myles Gartland & Martin Stack, 2004. "Old Habits Die Hard:Path Dependency and Behavioral Lock-in," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(2), pages 371-377, June.
    3. Brent McFerran & Darren W. Dahl & Gavan J. Fitzsimons & Andrea C. Morales, 2010. "I'll Have What She's Having: Effects of Social Influence and Body Type on the Food Choices of Others," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(6), pages 915-929, April.
    4. Steven Greene, 2004. "Social Identity Theory and Party Identification," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 85(1), pages 136-153, March.
    5. Einhorn, Laura, 2020. "Normative social influence on meat consumption," MPIfG Discussion Paper 20/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    6. Alexander Kustov, 2017. "How ethnic structure affects civil conflict: A model of endogenous grievance," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 34(6), pages 660-679, November.
    7. Jonah Berger & Lindsay Rand, 2008. "Shifting Signals to Help Health: Using Identity Signaling to Reduce Risky Health Behaviors," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(3), pages 509-518, March.
    8. Ilan Chabay & Larissa Koch & Grit Martinez & Geeske Scholz, 2019. "Influence of Narratives of Vision and Identity on Collective Behavior Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-15, October.
    9. Shayo, Moses, 2009. "A Model of Social Identity with an Application to Political Economy: Nation, Class, and Redistribution," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 103(2), pages 147-174, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sanjit Dhami & Emma Manifold & Ali al‐Nowaihi, 2021. "Identity and Redistribution: Theory and Evidence," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 88(350), pages 499-531, April.
    2. Haiyang Yang & Ziv Carmon & Barbara Kahn & Anup Malani & Janet Schwartz & Kevin Volpp & Brian Wansink, 2012. "The Hot–Cold Decision Triangle: A framework for healthier choices," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 457-472, June.
    3. Liu, Peggy J. & Campbell, Troy H. & Fitzsimons, Gavan J. & Fitzsimons, Gráinne M., 2013. "Matching choices to avoid offending stigmatized group members," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 291-304.
    4. Marco Manacorda & Guido Tabellini & Andrea Tesei, 2022. "Mobile Internet and the Rise of Political Tribalism in Europe," Working Papers 941, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    5. Matz Dahlberg & Karin Edmark & Heléne Berg, 2017. "Revisiting the Relationship between Ethnic Diversity and Preferences for Redistribution: Reply," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(2), pages 288-294, April.
    6. Bernard, Mark & Hett, Florian & Mechtel, Mario, 2016. "Social identity and social free-riding," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 4-17.
    7. Abraham Aldama & Mateo Vásquez-Cortés & Lauren Elyssa Young, 2019. "Fear and citizen coordination against dictatorship," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 31(1), pages 103-125, January.
    8. Mechtel, Mario & Hett, Florian & Kröll, Markus, 2014. "Endogenous Social Identity and Group Choice," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100307, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    9. Arne K. Albrecht & Gianfranco Walsh & Simon Brach & Dwayne D. Gremler & Erica Herpen, 2017. "The influence of service employees and other customers on customer unfriendliness: a social norms perspective," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(6), pages 827-847, November.
    10. Akinwumi Sharimakin & Rasheed O. Alao & Oluseyi Omosuyi, 2024. "Foreign remittances, deprivation and patriotism," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 753-780, February.
    11. E. Keith Smith & Adam Mayer, 2019. "Anomalous Anglophones? Contours of free market ideology, political polarization, and climate change attitudes in English-speaking countries, Western European and post-Communist states," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 17-34, January.
    12. Erling Barth & Henning Finseraas & Anders Kjelsrud & Karl O. Moene, 2021. "Does the Rise of China Lead to the Fall of European Welfare States?," Working Papers 202007, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo Business School.
    13. Malte Luebker, 2019. "Can the Structure of Inequality Explain Fiscal Redistribution? Revisiting the Social Affinity Hypothesis," LIS Working papers 762, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    14. Ronconi, Lucas & Kanbur, Ravi & López-Cariboni, Santiago, 2019. "Who Demands Labour (De)Regulation in the Developing World? Insider–Outsider Theory Revisited," IZA Discussion Papers 12831, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Paetzel, Fabian & Sausgruber, Rupert, 2018. "Cognitive ability and in-group bias: An experimental study," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 280-292.
    16. Bisin, Alberto & Verdier, Thierry, 2017. "Inequality, redistribution and cultural integration in the Welfare State," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 122-140.
    17. Agustin Casas & Federico Curci & Antoni-Italo De Moragas, 2022. "Checks and Balances and Nation Building: The Spanish Constitutional Court and Catalonia," Working Papers 189, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    18. Nicolás Ajzenman & Bruno Ferman & Pedro C. Sant’Anna, 2023. "Rooting for the Same Team: On the Interplay between Political and Social Identities in the Formation of Social Ties," Working Papers 231, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    19. Fung, Timothy K.F. & Choi, Doo Hun & Scheufele, Dietram A. & Shaw, Bret R., 2014. "Public opinion about biofuels: The interplay between party identification and risk/benefit perception," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 344-355.
    20. Adnan, Wifag & Arin, K. Peren & Charness, Gary & Lacomba, Juan A. & Lagos, Francisco, 2022. "Which social categories matter to people: An experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 125-145.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:13:p:7935-:d:851573. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.