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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Food Policy and Economics
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1472622
This article is part of the Research Topic Consumer Behavior, Nutrition and Policy in Novel Food Retail Environments View all 7 articles

Online Grocery Purchasing in Mississippi: Associations with Broadband, Rurality, and Household Characteristics

Provisionally accepted
Will Davis Will Davis 1*Jordan Jones Jordan Jones 2Elizabeth Canales Elizabeth Canales 1Ayoung Kim Ayoung Kim 1David Buys David Buys 1
  • 1 Mississippi State University, Starkville, United States
  • 2 Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Washington, DC, District of Columbia, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study seeks to identify the sociodemographic, economic, and area characteristics associated with Online Grocery Purchasing (OGP) use among adult residents of Mississippi. Using data from a 2022 online pilot survey (n=398) and secondary sources, we analyze associations between any selfreported OGP use and local broadband quality, sociodemographic and economic characteristics, the local food environment, and government nutrition assistance program participation. Analyzing these associations using a logistic regression model, we find that higher education and income levels are associated with an increased likelihood of any self-reported OGP use, while age and rural residence appear as potential barriers. Despite widespread broadband disparities across Mississippi, selfreported home internet type, and our measure of local internet speeds, show inconsistent associations with OGP participation across our various analyses. Our findings highlight the potentially nuanced roles of accessibility and individual-level contexts in shaping consumer behavior around OGP in a largely rural and low-income state.

    Keywords: Online grocery purchasing, consumer behavior, broadband, SNAP, Food access, COVID-19 pandemic

    Received: 29 Jul 2024; Accepted: 28 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Davis, Jones, Canales, Kim and Buys. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Will Davis, Mississippi State University, Starkville, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.