IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i19p11889-d920911.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Study of Consumers’ Perceptions of Take-Out Food before and after the COVID-19 Outbreak: Applying Big Data Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Jina Jang

    (Nutritional Science and Food Management Department, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Korea)

  • Eunjung Lee

    (Food and Nutrition Major, School of Wellness Industry Convergence, Hankyong National University, Jungang-no, Anseong-si 17579, Korea)

  • Hyosun Jung

    (Center for Converging Humanities, KyungHee University, Seoul 02447, Korea)

Abstract

This study explored changes in consumers’ perceptions of take-out food before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic using big data collected from social media. Using “take-out food” as a keyword, 18,544 search results were found in 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak, compared to 20,718 search results in 2021. These keywords were analyzed using text mining, semantic network analysis, CONCOR analysis, and sentiment analysis, respectively, to understand consumers’ perception of take-out food. Using text mining, in 2019, “dining-out” was the most frequent search term associated with take-out food, followed by packing, famous restaurant, family, delicious, menu, and available. In 2021, “dining-out” was again the most popular keyword, followed by packing, famous restaurant, delivery, family, delicious, available, and Corona. A semantic network analysis showed that, in 2019, four categories emerged: delicious, meat, satisfaction, and lunchbox. The same analysis showed that, in 2021, the categories were delicious, meat, good, and home meal. These findings suggest that, after COVID-19, take-out food began to be recognized as a daily meal that can replace home-cooked meals. According to the sentiment analysis, the number of positive keywords decreased by 4.03% after COVID-19, while the number of negative keywords increased at the same rate; regarding the increase in negative keywords, such as sadness, disgust, and fear, since the emergence of COVID-19, consumers’ anxiety about eating out due to the virus was observed. This study can be useful by providing core data and an analysis method necessary for food service companies’ business activities and decision making related to take-out amid consumers’ rapidly changing needs for the dining-out environment caused by COVID-19.

Suggested Citation

  • Jina Jang & Eunjung Lee & Hyosun Jung, 2022. "A Study of Consumers’ Perceptions of Take-Out Food before and after the COVID-19 Outbreak: Applying Big Data Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-23, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:11889-:d:920911
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/11889/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/11889/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shameena Gill & Alia Maisara Adenan & Adli Ali & Noor Akmal Shareela Ismail, 2022. "Living through the COVID-19 Pandemic: Impact and Lessons on Dietary Behavior and Physical Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-23, January.
    2. Hyo-Sun Jung & Hye-Hyun Yoon & Min-Kyung Song, 2021. "A Study on Dining-Out Trends Using Big Data: Focusing on Changes since COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-23, October.
    3. Jankit Chotigo & Yasuo Kadono, 2021. "Comparative Analysis of Key Factors Encouraging Food Delivery App Adoption Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-25, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yao, Pinyi & Li, Yezheng, 2024. "Why employees continue to use O2O food delivery services? Moderating role of sedentary behavior," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    2. Dorota Zielińska & Marcelina Karbowiak & Aneta Brzezicka, 2022. "The Role of Psychobiotics to Ensure Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Current State of Knowledge," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-19, September.
    3. Burlea-Schiopoiu, Adriana & Puiu, Silvia & Dinu, Adina, 2022. "The impact of food delivery applications on Romanian consumers’ behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PA).
    4. Unji Baek & Seul Ki Lee, 2023. "Pandemic Dining Dilemmas: Exploring the Determinants of Korean Consumer Dining-Out Behavior during COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-15, May.
    5. Allicia Deana Santosa & Nuryanti Taufik & Faizal Haris Eko Prabowo & Mira Rahmawati, 2021. "Continuance intention of baby boomer and X generation as new users of digital payment during COVID-19 pandemic using UTAUT2," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(4), pages 259-273, December.
    6. Debora Rosa & Loris Bonetti & Giulia Villa & Sara Allieri & Riccardo Baldrighi & Rolando Francesco Elisei & Paola Ripa & Noemi Giannetta & Carla Amigoni & Duilio Fiorenzo Manara, 2022. "Moral Distress of Intensive Care Nurses: A Phenomenological Qualitative Study Two Years after the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-15, November.
    7. Maria Jose Andrade-Cuvi & Cesar Montalvo & Carlota Moreno-Guerrero, 2023. "Vegetable and fruit consumption during the COVID-19 lockdown: eating habits in Ecuador," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-20, December.
    8. Van Dat Tran, 2021. "Using Mobile Food Delivery Applications during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior to Examine Continuance Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-20, November.
    9. Nan Hua & Randall Shannon & Murtaza Haider & George P. Moschis, 2023. "Factors Influencing Purchase Intention of Food Surplus through a Food-Sharing Platform," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-20, August.
    10. Mian Yang & Wenjie Fan & Jian Qiu & Sining Zhang & Jinting Li, 2022. "The Evaluation of Rural Outdoor Dining Environment from Consumer Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-16, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:11889-:d:920911. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.