Abstract
Caffeine is the most-used psychoactive substance in the world. About 80% of the world’s population consumes caffeine every day, including athletes and lifestyle users. Thus, it is important to understand the consumer drivers of caffeine-containing beverages and food. This research study aims to explore consumers’ behaviors, perceptions, attitudes, and drivers towards caffeine-containing products to enhance sports performance. The research applies the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in order to understand consumers’ behavior, extended with utilitarian aspects for a comprehensive understanding of consumers’ behavior and attitudes. We interviewed consumers with the support of Qualtrics online software. The data were then processed with SPSS (statistical analysis software). The data elaboration includes a multivariate linear regression model to analyze the consumers’ intention to consume caffeine to enhance the sports performance, and to explore consumers’ preference of marketing leverages for this product category. The results contribute to an understanding of consumers’ consumption and purchasing behavior towards caffeine, and support the validity of the extended TPB to develop a more comprehensive picture of consumer behavior. Consumers have a positive attitude towards caffeine-containing products to enhance sports performance. The main consumer behavior drivers are subjective norms and utilitarian aspects. The present research results may support companies in the development of caffeine-containing products to enhance sports performance.
Highlights
Caffeine is the most-used psychoactive substance in the world
The current study focuses on consumption behavior regarding caffeine-containing food products to enhance sports performance
The results showed that coffee is the caffeine-containing product that was consumed the most by the sample (Table 3)
Summary
About 80% of the world population consumes caffeine every day, with a daily intake equal to 200 mg, equivalent to around three espresso cups per day [1,2,3]. It can be found naturally in the seeds, fruits and leaves of more than 60 species of plants, including the coffee plant (Coffea canephora and Coffea arabica), tea plant (Camellia sinensis), cocoa plant (Theobroma cacao), yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) and kola plant (Cola nitida), as well as being produced artificially [4]. It has no nutritive value, it has become an important additive in a range of food and drinks, such as coffee, tea, chocolate, mate, Guarana and cola nut
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