Does susceptibility to informational and normative influences mediates the link between food security status and food purchasing behaviour?

There is a growing need to understand how structural and cognitive constraints jointly shape consumers’ food-related decisions, particularly in online environments where consumers are exposed to social information through ratings, reviews and peer recommendations. While previous studies have established the influence of socially driven cues on consumer behaviour, less is known about how these mechanisms function at different levels of food insecurity. This study addresses that gap by examining how informational and normative signals operate across varying levels of food insecurity and whether these influences help explain disparities in takeaway food consumption. Based on a survey of 573 adults in China, the study used validated multi-item scales to measure informational and normative influences and classified respondents into food security categories using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. Statistical analyses included ANOVA, MANOVA and causal mediation models to assess both group differences and explanatory pathways. The results show that food-insecure individuals reported significantly lower levels of both informational and normative influence which indicate reduced susceptibility to social cues in food-related decision-making. However, these reductions did not significantly mediate the relationship between food insecurity and takeaway-ordering frequency. Informational influence remained slightly more stable than normative influence across the gradient of food insecurity, implying a differential sensitivity to the two types of cues. The findings have clear implications for policy and behavioural design. Interventions that rely on social proof or informational nudges may be less effective among food-insecure consumers unless paired with initiatives that lower financial and logistical constraints on food choice. More broadly, the results highlight the need to re-evaluate assumptions of universal behavioural responsiveness in food environments, particularly in situations of food insecurity.