Influence of social acceptability and attitudes in restaurant beef consumption: An expanded rational expectations model

The competition for meeting consumer preferences for beef steak in the casual dining restaurant is increasing. In order to better understand these preferences researchers employed Sapp’s expanded rational expectations intention model, a depiction of Ajzen and Fishbein’s theory of reasoned action, to investigate consumers’ intentions to consume beef steak in the casual dining restaurant. The expanded model added the social acceptability construct to Ajzen and Fishbein’s rational expectations model. Social acceptability had significant causal path estimates for attitude, intention, and subjective norm. Additionally, researchers looked at possible gender differences in the social acceptability, attitude, and behavioral intention constructs. The path estimate between social acceptability and behavioral intention was significant for females but not for males. The attitude to behavioral intention causal path was the strongest path for both males and females; however, neither gender differed in the amount of weight placed on this causal path. The results of this study may assist the beef and restaurant industry to more effectively compete for market share by meeting consumer preferences for beef steak in the casual dining environment.