Consumer Trust in Food and the Food System: A Critical Review

Increased focus towards food safety and quality is reshaping food purchasing decisions around the world. Although some food attributes are visible, many of the attributes that consumers seek and are willing to pay a price premium for are not. Consequently, consumers rely on trusted cues and information to help them verify the food quality and credence attributes they seek. In this study, we synthesise the findings from previous research to generate a framework illustrating the key trust influencing factors that are beyond visual and brand-related cues. Our framework identifies that consumer trust in food and the food system is established through the assurances related to individual food products and the actors of the food system. Specifically, product assurance builds consumer trust through food packaging labels communicating food attribute claims, certifications, country or region of origin, and food traceability information. In addition, producers, processors, and retailers provide consumers with food safety and quality assurances, while government agencies, third-party institutions, advocacy groups, and the mass media may modify how labelling information and food operators are perceived by consumers. We hope our framework will guide future research efforts to test these trust factors in various consumer and market settings.

Analyzing Consumer Preferences for Credence Attributes of Fish and Fishery Products in Davao City, Philippines

Fish remains among the essential diet components in a typical Filipino household. As fish consumption rises, the manner of how it is caught is in question as it affects the quality of the fish. This study aims to analyze the importance of the two credence attributes of environmental sustainability and food safety in fish and fishery products in Davao City, Philippines. Conjoint analysis was used to analyze consumer preference by estimating the consumer’s utility function. From the preference model, the relative importance of the considered attributes in descending order are food safety certification, sustainability practice information, and extent of good animal welfare for target and non-target species. Three major segments of seafood consumers (N = 300) were clustered in terms of policy preferences. These are consumers who preferred policies on food safety certification and traceability system (77%), consumers who preferred policies regarding food safety certification and environmental sustainability certification (16%), and consumers who highly preferred only food safety certification (7%). Using multinomial logistic regression, the factors affecting preferences were found to be average price per kilogram for capture fishery products, barangay (i.e., village) classification, household size, retail outlet choice, sex, frequency of buying, beliefs and practices regarding environmental sustainability and environmental concerns, age, years of education, and frequency of buying fish. The study showed the potential of environmental sustainability and food safety attributes in influencing the purchasing decisions of the consumers.

Sustainable Meat: Looking through the Eyes of Australian Consumers

Sustainability is a complex and multifaceted concept that comprises environmental, economic, social, and cultural dimensions. Growing consumer concerns over the impacts of global meat production and consumption have led to increasing interest in sustainability initiatives and the use of sustainability labels. Yet, an understanding of what sustainability means to consumers in the context of meat and how consumers relate production-related credence attributes of chicken meat to sustainability remains limited. Between September 2019 and January 2020, an exploratory research study was conducted using a multi-method approach. Participants completed an online survey before participating in a series of eye-tracking choice tasks followed by in-depth interviews. The study revealed that the environmental dimension of sustainability is most important to consumers’ definition of a “sustainable food system”. Likewise, the sustainability of chicken meat products was most commonly associated with the perceived environmental impact of chicken meat production, followed by animal welfare aspects. Consumers made incorrect inferences about some sustainability labels and these inferences sometimes contributed to positive associations with sustainability. Consumers frequently associated a higher price with higher sustainability, indicating a belief that “doing the right thing” might cost more. This study provides new insights regarding consumers’ perceptions of production-related credence attributes and sustainability labels.

Mountain beef and wine: Italian consumers' definitions and opinions on the mountain labelling-scheme

Despite the importance of mountain areas and mountain farming, the literature on studies on consumers' opinion concerning mountain food products is not numerous. In order to contribute to filling this gap, this study aims at exploring Italian consumers' opinions regarding beef and wine produced in mountain areas as well as their opinions concerning the new European regulation on mountain food products. To do so, a qualitative approach with observations, focus groups and semi-structured interviews were applied. The results indicate that consumers living in mountain areas and those living in non-mountain areas, including rural areas, have different knowledge about the practices in mountain farming and different opinions concerning mountain food products. Nevertheless, both want mountain food products to be healthier and sustainably produced. Furthermore, they associate wine and beef mainly to credence attributes. As for European regulation, most criticisms are directed to the flexibility of the rules. The inclusion of wine in the mountain quality scheme is not a consensus among consumers. However, the analyses point to the existence of consumers who are interested in wines produced in mountain areas, indicating the emergence of a potential niche market for these wines.

Gaining Trust in the Digital Age: The Potential of Social Media for Increasing the Competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises

Trust in information originating from a company is becoming essential, as consumer preferences are increasingly versatile and oriented towards credence attributes. Social media, which emerged as a dominant means of online communication, might help increase consumers’ trust in companies. The paper empirically investigates a conceptual trust-building mechanism that could occur on companies’ social media pages. A survey was conducted among social media users in Belgrade (Serbia). The collected data were analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling. It confirmed that in an interactive environment of companies’ social media pages, trust can be built towards two objects. The first one is trust among consumers, and the second one is trust towards a company. The results also confirm a connection between trust and an intention to purchase, both being also related to a consumer’s willingness to obtain information. Therefore, the result can serve as a basis for creating more effective marketing campaigns where a company is the source of information regarding credence (added-value) attributes of its products.

Consumer Preferences for Green Skin Avocados in the US Market: The Role of Experienced Quality Attributes, Credence Attributes, and Demographic Factors

The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of experienced quality attributes, credence quality attributes and demographic factors affecting green-skin avocado consumption. Data for the present study came from a consumer online survey to 355 avocado consumers. Consumer preferences were modeled by an ordered logit model. Results indicate that experienced quality attributes are the main drivers for green-skin avocado followed by origin and health credence attributes, respectively. Demographic factors other than ethnicity do not play a significant role for green-skin avocado consumption. Among other things, the findings indicate that consumers place a higher valuation on higher fat content compared to low calorie content, implying that the latter attribute should not be touted at the expense of the former. To the extent possible, the industry should focus on cultivars with higher fat content and develop promotional activities to target non-Hispanic consumers. The present study constitutes an effort to contribute to the existing literature as it explores the role of health credence attributes, a topic that has not received much attention.

The Role of Credence Attributes in Consumer Choices of Sustainable Fish Products: A Review

This review aims to assess consumer choices of sustainable fish products, considering a number of attributes that have been considered in the academic literature on this topic. In order to examine the effectiveness of sustainable labels, the research question was focused on the relation between sustainable fish labels and consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP). The findings showed how, overall, consumers have positive perceptions regarding sustainable fish products and show a willingness to pay a premium price for the attribute of sustainability. According to the results, the country of origin attribute was found to be the most important attribute in relation to consumer choice. The results indicated a high WTP for local fish products, relative to imported alternatives. Consumers prefer wild-caught fish for its perceived quality, better safety and health aspects, and taste perception than the farm-raised option. As for animal welfare, the results show that consumers are willing to pay a moderate premium price for products that have an improved fish welfare or those that avoid by-catch, such as products with eco-labels like “turtle safe”. With regard to organic labels, the studies identified a positive organic price premium for fish products. However, organic labels do not play a major role in consumer choice, when compared with other attributes.

Educated Millennials and Credence Attributes of Food Products with Genetically Modified Organisms: Knowledge, Trust and Social Media

In this paper, we investigated educated millennials’ evaluation of credence attributes in food products containing genetically modified organisms (GMO products). Our goal is to assess whether beliefs about GMO products are determined by scientific knowledge alone or if they are affected by other factors such as trust in information providers and use of social media. The focus on millennials is motivated by the increasing relevance of this social group in the public debate and by their extensive use of social media. We surveyed a sample of 215 Italian college students, confronting them with questions about safety, environmental impact and ethical issues in GMO product consumption. Using an ordered probit regression model, we found that educated millennials build their beliefs using a mix of scientific knowledge and trust in information providers. The role of the two drivers depended on the issue considered. Scientific knowledge drove beliefs in health claims, while trust in information providers was a driving factor in almost all claims. After controlling for trust effects, we did not find evidence of impact of confidence in the reliability of traditional and social media on beliefs. This result contradicts previous literature.

Online Reviews of Credence Service Providers: What Do Consumers Evaluate, Do Other Consumers Believe the Reviews, and Are Interventions Needed?

Consumer-generated online reviews of credence service providers, such as doctors, have become common on platforms such as Yelp and RateMDs. Yet doctors have challenged the legitimacy of these platforms on the grounds that consumers do not have the expertise required to evaluate the quality of the medical care they receive. This challenge is supported by the economics of information literature, which has characterized doctors as a credence service, meaning that consumers cannot evaluate quality even after consumption. Are interventions needed to ensure that consumers are not misled by these reviews? Data from real online reviews shows that many of the claims made in real reviews of credence service providers focus on experience attributes, such as promptness, which consumers can typically evaluate, rather than credence attributes, such as knowledge. Follow-up experiments show that consumers are more likely to believe experience claims (vs. credence claims) made by other consumers, claims that are supported by data, and longer reviews even if they are not more informative. The authors discuss implications for consumers and credence service providers and possible policy interventions.