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Purpose: This paper aims to empirically identify foodie features and examine their relevance in segmenting German consumers. Furthermore, this study explored potential differences between foodie segments in terms of food involvement and food knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 500 German respondents in October 2015 by means of two online surveys using a newly developed version of the foodie instrument based on existing literature. Confirmatory factor analysis, cluster analysis, analysis of variance and post hoc tests were applied to analyse the data. Findings: Six distinct consumer segments were identified: passionate foodies (12.0%), interested foodies (21.5%); moderate foodies (21.7%), traditional foodies (17.1%), light foodies (18.2%) and non-foodies (9.5%). The nutritional knowledge questionnaire suggests that passionate foodies have only an average level of food literacy compared to other segments. Research limitations/implications: Behavioural traits and socio-demographic characteristics of foodies and other culinary consumer segments could be time-sensitive, thus future research should take a longitudinal approach so that subsequent decision-making is appropriately dynamic. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is a first step towards the development of a new foodie lifestyle scale which will be useful to identify, characterise and develop effective marketing strategies for targeting highly involved food consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of cultural differences and the types of relationship closeness involved in recipients' emotional and behavioral reactions after receiving disliked gifts. Design/methodology/approach: Collecting data from Thailand and the USA, two experiments were conducted in a 2 (self-construal: independent/interdependent) × 2 (relationship closeness: close/distant) between-subjects design. Study 1 explores the recipients' feelings and reactions upon receipt of a disliked gift. Study 2 explores the disposition process for a disliked gift. Findings: The results show that a recipient's emotions, reaction and disposition process can be affected by cultural differences and relationship closeness: specifically that close and distant relationships moderate the relationship between self-construal and gift-receiving attitudes and behaviors. Research limitations/implications: Future research can investigate representative groups from other countries to broaden the generalizability of the findings. Practical implications: This understanding can guide gift-givers when selecting gifts for close or distant recipients across cultures. Additionally, it can help retailers develop and introduce new marketing strategies by applying self-construal as a marketing segmentation tool for gift purchase and disposition. Originality/value: This research is among the first studies to offer insights into how individuals in different cultures manage disliked gifts they receive from people in either close or distant relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]