Food Protection Trends - March/April 2021 - 213

TABLE 4. Psychosocial constructs related to perceptions of Reddit and safe food handling
at home among a sample of 209 Reddit users, 2019-2020
Theory / constructa
TAM - perceptions of Reddit
Perceived usefulness
Perceived ease of use
Perceived credibility of information
TPB - safe food handling at home
Attitudes - instrumental
Attitudes - experiential
Subjective norm - injunctive
Subjective norm - social pressure
Perceived behavioral control - self-efficacy
Perceived behavioral control - controllability

Mean

Items

Cronbach's alpha

205
208
209

5.01
4.60
4.43

1.60
1.60
1.00

1
1
3

N/A
N/A
0.80

208
207
207
209
209
209

6.16
5.08
5.73
3.47
6.39
6.27

1.15
1.46
1.45
1.97
0.94
1.18

1
1
1
1
1
1

N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A

The response range for all variables was 1 to 7. The sample size varies by construct because some participants had missing
information for some variables.
b
NA, not applicable.
a

TABLE 5. Multivariable ordinal regression model of determinants of respondents
intentions to search for food safety advice on Reddit in the following two weeks
Predictora

ORb

95% CI

P-valuec

Perceived usefulness of Reddit
Perceived credibility of Reddit
Experiential attitude toward safe food handling at home
Previously searched for food safety information on Reddit (yes vs. no)

1.60
1.38
0.83
8.46

0.16
0.21
0.08
2.60

1.32, 1.94
1.03, 1.84
0.69, 1.00
4.70, 15.23

< 0.001
0.031
0.051
< 0.001

CI = 95% confidence intervals; OR = odds ratio; SE = standard errors.
a
The Brandt test for the proportional odds assumption was not significant (P = 0.226). The pseudo-R2 for the model was 0.145.
The model sample size was 203 due to some participants having missing information for some variables.
b
CI, 95% Confidence interval; OR, odds ratio.
c
P-values for the significance of each variable were obtained from likelihood ratio tests.

The moderators in the cooking subreddits occasionally
removed our recruitment link, which could have reduced
exposure to consumers in those communities. Moreover,
the inclusion of the food safety subreddit may have resulted
in an overrepresentation of food safety experts in our
sample, which could have contributed to the relatively high
self-reported use of safe food handling behaviors among
respondents. Similar to other surveys that rely on selfreporting, the behaviors reported among respondents could
have been influenced by social desirability bias and may be
overestimated. Although we pretested the questionnaire
using a cognitive interviewing approach, the lack of reliability

in TPB constructs suggests that additional pretesting (e.g., a
small pilot survey) could have been useful for those variables.
Despite these limitations, we believe the sample provides an
informative cross-section of the food safety and informationseeking preferences, intentions, and behaviors of young
adults who use Reddit.
The results of the study indicate that young adults who
searched for food safety information on Reddit are likely to
adopt the advice they obtained from other Reddit users. The
self-reported safe food handling behaviors of respondents
were largely consistent with recommended guidelines.
Behavioral gaps were identified in thermometer ownership

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