Emotional abilities or cognitive abilities? The role of emotional intelligence in food purchase decisions with nutritional claims [¿Habilidades emocionales o cognitivas? El rol de la inteligencia emocional en las decisiones de compra de alimentos con declaraciones nutricionales]

Public health policy efforts to reduce the high rate of chronic food-related diseases seems not to give the expected results due to the fact that these policies are based on decision-making models with a bias towards cognitive aspects assuming consumers choose their food products rationally. However, a new approach based on consumers emotional abilities plays a fundamental role in the purchase decision of healthier food. This study analyses the impact of emotional intelligence in the purchasing decisions of food products with nutritional claims. To measure consumer preferences for potato chips with nutritional claims we estimated a Latent class model that allowed the identification of groups with similar preferences, which were also verified through individuals’ emotional and cognitive abilities. The main result of our study indicates that poor emotional ability has a negative influence on the purchase decision of potato chips with nutritional claims. However, it is the interaction between emotional and cognitive abilities that determines the purchase decision quality of food products. This study provides evidence on the use of emotional intelligence to define in a more precise way food purchase decisions