Why Do We Eat Out? Evidence from a Meta-analysis Based on Theory of Planned Behaviour

This meta-analysis aimed to explore and consolidate the theory of planned behaviour-based literature on the intention to eat at a restau- rant. Following a structured literature review of 220 articles, a final sample of 22 articles was analysed by pooling the correlations between the constructs of attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural con- trol, and intention to eat out. Moreover, possible moderators by sam- ple, cultural dimensions, and restaurant characteristics were analysed to identify significant subgroups in the literature. The results highlight the robustness of the constructs of the theory of planned behaviour, con- firming its reliability even in the face of an unexpected shock, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the analysis of cultural moderators extracted from the World Value Survey highlights the need to adapt the construct of perceived behavioural control to consumers’ cultural back- grounds.