Antecedents of Trust in Organic Foods: The Mediating Role of Food Related Personality Traits

Abstract

The current study focuses on identifying the factors responsible for building trust in organic foods. This study also attempted to establish the mediating role of food-related personality traits in building such trust. The quantitative data was collected from the Liaoning province of China through a structured questionnaire (n = 420). Established scales were adopted for measuring constructs. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that consumer trust towards retailers was found to be highly significant in creating trust of customers regarding organic food products, followed by information on the label. The trust of consumers towards food manufacturer was also found to be a significant predictor, while the perceived knowledge of customers about organic food products was found to be a weak contributor towards building trust. Furthermore, food-related personality traits were found to mediate the hypothesized model. This study extends the literature on trust in organic food consumption by intending to provide a detailed analysis of the factors that build trust in organic food consumption in China. The findings of this study will help producers, retailers, and marketers to identify the appropriate strategies to establish and improve the consumer trust in organic food.

Organic Food Consumers and Purchase Intention: A Case Study in Romania

“…The unattractive aspect (Mean = 3.09, SD = 1.469) of organic food is mentioned as a barrier also by the Romanian consumers, just like in the case of low-income Greek consumers [40]. Unlike other studies which underline the consumers' lack of information regarding organic products [49,50] the Romanian consumers do not consider themselves uninformed (Mean = 2.89, SD = 1.414).…”

“…High levels of food neophobia characterizes consumers with less trust in organic food, since their desire to try new products is low, compared to low levels of food neophobia meaning consumers who are eager to try new products. It was also observed that the more involved the consumer is, the more information he will gain about healthy food and the more trust he will have in organic food, in opposition to less involved consumers [50].…”

“…= 32 (χ 2 /d.f. = 4.622), p < 0.001, the Normed Fit Index NFI = 0.889, the Tucker Lewis Index LIT = 0.867, the Comparative Fit Index CHI = 0.906, and the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation RAMSES = 0.09 [50]. The composite reliability (C) of the constructs was above 0.7, with an average variance extracted (AVE) higher than 0.5 [66].…”

Important Influencing and Decision Factors in Organic Food Purchasing in Hungary

“…A well-functioning label can build also trust in organic food marketing. The findings of a Chinese survey revealed that information on the label of organic food is a significant antecedent of consumers' trust in organic food [52]. Rácz found that domestic consumers do not know the objective meaning of food labels in several cases.…”

Understanding the Antecedents of Organic Food Purchases: The Important Roles of Beliefs, Subjective Norms, and Identity Expressiveness

“…Organic food, which is alleged to be free from chemicals and pesticides, and which have lower impacts on the environment [4], is considered by many to be a healthier and more environmentally friendly type of food [5][6][7]. The organic food market in China has grown rapidly in recent years [8,9]. In 2014, the Chinese domestic organic market was estimated to be worth US$4.9 billion, boasting 9990 organic producers, 2707 processors, 66 importers, and 1198 exporters [10], representing the third largest organic market in the world and occupying 6% of the global market [11].…”