Investigation of key drivers of functional food consumption among elites in an emerging market

The present study seeks to investigate the key drivers behind consumer choice of functional foods, particularly in emerging market namely Sri Lanka by exploring hierarchical value structures (attributes‐perceived consequences‐values) behind functional food consumption in an emerging market namely Sri Lanka. To identify the key drivers of functional food choice, the data was gathered through 45 semi‐structured interviews by integrating laddering techniques. The data was analysed by deploying the standard MEC analysis procedure. The findings of MEC analysis of functional foods in general indicate that functional food choice is driven through abstract and concrete product attributes, health related psychological consequences, internal values related to self‐fulfilment and self‐enhancement. Finally, this study contributes to the limited knowledge on key drivers of consumer functional food choices in emerging markets and provides valuable insights on how functional foods are seen as a mean to achieve elite consumers desired end goals. Further research is required across different consumer segments to further substantiate the findings of the present study