Journal of Marketing Management· 2026Q1
‘You don’t want to be sat on a sticky seat’: a Q-methodological foraging analysis of pub consumer choice
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Pub consumers' choices are driven by a 'foraging' trade-off between product, physical, and service features, leading to two distinct psychographic segments: Traditional Pint Loyalists and Inclusive Drinkers.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Pub consumer choice is analyzed using foraging theory, focusing on trade-offs between product, physical, and service features.
- Q-methodology reveals two distinct psychographic segments: Traditional Pint Loyalists and Inclusive Drinkers.
- Segmentation moves beyond demographics to capture subjective consumer experiences.
- The study notes the growing presence of women and families, and the rise of non-beer drinkers in pubs.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This study investigates how consumers trade-off between various features when making pub choices, a previously underexplored area. Uniquely we apply foraging theory as a multi-level, ecologically based approach examining analysis of product, physical and service elements to the non-digital consumer behaviour of pub choice. We use Q-methodology, a mixed-methods approach ideal for understanding subjective experiences and analysing in a comparative manner, to explore these trade-offs and develop two psychographic segments (Traditional Pint Loyalists and Inclusive Drinkers), moving away from static segmentations based on demographics. This research significantly contributes to consumer behaviour by offering a novel, structured segmentation that moves beyond outdated stereotypes, notably highlighting the growing influence of women and families in pubs as well as non-beer drinkers.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Marketing Management, 2026 · DOI ↗
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