The impact of emotions on Turkish expatriates' choices towards Baklava vendors in Thessaloniki

Abstract

This study attempts to understand the relationship between a traditional dessert in Turkey such as Baklava and the impact of emotions on the shopping and consumption patterns of Turkish expatriates living in Thessaloniki, Greece. More specifically, this study seeks to gain an insight of the impact of positive emotions into the level of consume for Baklava and the impact of the negative ones where a extended study was made for the emotions related to the national identity of Turks in Thessaloniki. This study is divided into five sections, introduction, literature review, methodology, analysis and discussion, summary conclusions and recommendations. In addition, references and appendices are provided in order to create a complete picture of this study. Hierarchical model of emotions were was used as a model that lead the design of the questionnaire, there were 80 questionnaires completed by Turkish expatriates in the city of Thessaloniki. The results showed that positive emotions impact the Baklava consumption into increasing it. Furthermore, the importance of nostalgia and pride was underlined as they are influencing factors when it comes to the Turkish expatriates and the consumption of Turkish traditional dishes. This study faced a set of limitations such as; the small size of samples and the asymmetric distribution of the respondent’s demographic as it is though that it may have caused misleading of the results. Another limitation of this study was the use of only the quantitative method of research as the addition of the qualitative would generate a more in depth understanding of the relations between the emotions and the consuming patterns. This study can offer to the Baklava vendors in Thessaloniki a guideline of the type of emotions that they need to transmit to the consumers in order to increase their sales.