Restaurants’ healthy eating initiatives for children increase parents’ perceptions of CSR, empowerment, and visit intentions

In this study, we examine how healthy eating initiatives (i.e., providing healthful foods and nutrition information on children's menus) affect parents’ intentions to visit restaurants. We test the mediating roles of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) and empowerment and examine whether mediating effects are contingent on the level of parents’ concerns about children's eating. The results of a scenario-based experimental design show that both initiatives increase parents’ visit intentions through increased CSR perceptions. The indirect effect of nutrition information on visit intentions through perceived CSR is pronounced only among parents with moderate to high concerns about children's eating. The provision of healthful foods has an indirect effect on parents’ visit intentions through perceived CSR, regardless of concern level. Our findings suggest that providing healthful items and nutrition information on children's menus increases parents’ perceptions of CSR and visit intentions.