Abstract

There is a growing demand towards functional foods which give the consumers a chance to have a healthier diet without changing their current habits. Due to this appealing benefit, functional food market is rapidly growing and there is a raising interest in consumer research regarding functional foods. The main purpose of this study is to explore the impact of attitude towards the necessity of functional food, interpersonal influence and consumer innovativeness on functional food consumption. The secondary purpose is to find out whether functional food consumption varies according to demographic variables. The study covers 695 consumers living in İstanbul. The results show that people who believe functional foods are necessary, who are influenced by other people and who are innovative, are more likely to consume functional foods. It is also found that functional food consumption is higher among single and lower among educated people. Developing a new functional food is an expensive process and the companies need to have detailed knowledge on the products, consumer expectations and motives. So, it is believed that this study will contribute to explore functional food market and consumers in Turkey.

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