A food well-being index for sustainable eating behavior: Construction, validation, and implementation

•It develops a novel Food Well-Being Index (FWBI) embedded in a nomological net with composite-based structural equation modeling.•It identifies essential sources of consumer happiness related to food and compares performance results across emergent composite variables.•Individual and environmental well-being are the most salient drivers of consumer happiness related to food, while social well-being demonstrates higher performance.•It holds implications for sustainability-oriented marketing strategies and helps improve quality management in food-related sections. Food well-being is critical in food marketing and sustainability, yet identifying its key sources and validating them against overall well-being remains challenging. Food marketers struggle to assess contributable factors in strategic decisions. Enhancing food well-being boosts consumer happiness and sustainability, but lacks a standardized evaluation method. This study introduces a novel Food Well-Being Index (FWBI) embedded in a nomological net using composite-based structural equation modeling to identify key sources of consumer happiness and compare performance across composite variables to promote healthier and more sustainable eating habits. Data from 401 participants are analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Participants provide ratings on 56 statements in the questionnaire, forming the basis for the indicators. An importance-performance matrix analysis is applied to capture important indicators and their performances. Results reveal individual and environmental well-being as the most salient drivers of food-related happiness, while social well-being demonstrates higher performance. These dimensions are underpinned by motivations for health and environmental responsibility and moderating food well-being to encourage sustainable consumption behaviors. This empirical study contributes to marketing research and practice in three ways. First, it calibrates the FWBI and identifies key indicators of food well-being. Second, it validates the relevance of food well-being and its impact on overall well-being. Third, it conducts an importance-performance matrix analysis, illustrating how managers in different sectors can use the FWBI to identify essential aspects in food production, design, and retailing, and improve products and services. Therefore, this study has significant implications for sustainability-oriented marketing strategies.