The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the usefulness of preferencebased segmentation in understanding food-related behavior among Vietnamese teenagers. A sample of 413 teenagers in secondary and high schools in three different regions is used. Their preferences for 36 common Vietnamese dishes are evaluated. | 132 Vu Thi Hoa & Skallerud Kåre / Journal of Economic Development 24(2) 132-153 Preference-based segmentation: A study of dish preferences among Vietnamese teenagers VU THI HOA Nha Trang University – hoavt@ SKALLERUD KÅRE The Arctic University of Norway – ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the usefulness of preferencebased segmentation in understanding food-related behavior among Vietnamese teenagers. A sample of 413 teenagers in secondary and high schools in three different regions is used. Their preferences for 36 common Vietnamese dishes are evaluated. Four segments based on their preferences are identified, including food likers (29%), poultry dislikers (27%), seafood dislikers (19%), and pork dislikers (25%). Differences between segments are profiled by a diverse set of variables including consumption frequencies, food choice motives, attitudinal variables, and socio-demographic variables. Dish preferences appear to be an appropriate basis for segmentation of Vietnamese adolescents. The differences found across the clusters for the differentiating variables can provide the basis for developing marketing strategies to target different segments, and also theoretical and practical implications are accordingly discussed. Received: Oct. 12, 2016 Received in revised form: Jan. 12, 2016 Accepted: Mar. 31, 2017 Keywords: Food preferences Teenagers Vietnam Vu Thi Hoa & Skallerud Kåre / Journal of Economic Development 24(2) 132-153 133 1. Introduction Adolescence is an important period in the life cycle of a person which brings about significant psychological and physiological changes. The ages regarded as part of adolescence vary by culture; as usual, adolescents are called “teenagers” or “teens,” derived from the tail of the English words from “thirteen” to “nineteen” (Louw, 2002). New preferences are formed due to growing autonomy, their opportunities to eat out,
