Home cooking in the digital age: When observing food influencers on social media triggers the imitation of their practices

Social media influencers are effective in influencing the purchase intention of their audience. Aside from products, influencers also promote certain lifestyles and behaviors. Food influencers, for example, frequently feature home cooking, a healthier behavior compared to snacking or dining out. This study explored the potential of social media influencers in promoting such behavior. Driven by social cognitive theory, we explored whether self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and concerns (social, entertainment, health, and economic) relate to the intention of the audience to cook at home following the recipes an Instagram influencer provides. We conducted three separate studies (two surveys and one experiment) with a French population of social network platform users. Our results showed that the entertainment value of an observed behavior is the main driver for imitation on social media, along with self-efficacy, at least for women. Mixed results were obtained for social benefits. The perceived ease of the recipe, cooking experience, and explicit verbal encouragement were positively related to self-efficacy. Surprisingly, the effect of health and economic benefits or concerns and labeling was not confirmed.