Can food well-being reduce guilt in food consumption? Assessing the incremental validity of the Food Well-Being Scale

• Grant number: 25/02128-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Administration - Business Administration
• Principal Investigator: Tania Modesto Veludo de Oliveira
• Grantee: Ana Tereza Freitas de Lapedra
• Supervisor: Kelly Haws
• Host Institution: Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (EAESP). Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Vanderbilt University (VU), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/08747-0 - FOOD WELL-BEING: SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION, BP.DR

Abstract

This research project is part of regular doctoral research funded by FAPESP (Process No. 2023/08747-0), which aims to develop and validate the Food Well-Being Scale (FWB Scale). The present BEPE proposal seeks to advance this regular doctoral research by testing the incremental validity of the FWB Scale through an experimental study to be conducted at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, USA) from August 2025 to February 2026.Food well-being (FWB) extends beyond nutritional aspects, encompassing consumers' relationship with food across physical, psychological, emotional, and social domains. Despite its relevance to Transformative Consumer Research (TCR), the absence of a validated scale to measure FWB remains a barrier to identifying factors influencing individuals' relationship with food and developing effective interventions.Building on our preliminary findings from the regular doctoral research, this BEPE research project aims to demonstrate the incremental validity of the FWB Scale by examining how FWB moderates the relationship between nutrition information, guilt, and food consumption. We plan to conduct a pilot and a main study, leveraging the experimental resources available at Vanderbilt University (e.g., Insights Lab) under the supervision of Professor Kelly Haws, a leading expert in food consumption and scale validation.We expect to contribute to the field by establishing the validity of the FWB Scale and providing a foundation for future research to apply and expand its use. Additionally, the findings will provide help to understand how higher levels of FWB can mitigate guilt associated with nutrition information, encouraging a more balanced approach to eating and informing more effective policies.