Les coopératives agricoles doivent-elles dévoiler leur mode de gouvernance aux consommateurs de produits agroalimentaires ?

How tasty is governance? Understanding the effect of a “cooperative” label on perceived taste of food products

“…In other words, the implicit association “cooperative = good taste” exists in a French context, just as other research has shown that health products are also associated with better taste (Werle et al, 2013). This positive automatic association can be linked to clichés about cooperatives, such as the perceived authenticity and local provenance of agricultural products from these enterprises (Faure-Ferlet et al, 2017). However, these results contradict the findings of Mai et al (2019) that the association “ethical products = less strong” is evident in the food sector.…”

“…In this case, a cognitive dissonance effect may explain our results concerning the perceived taste in the presence of a brand, when the individual is confronted with two contradictory beliefs (Festinger, 1957). Indeed, several qualitative approaches of explicit associations with the cooperative governance mode show that consumers have great difficulty associating agricultural cooperatives with brands with high brand recognition (Faure-Ferlet et al, 2017; IPSOS, 2013). Whereas agricultural cooperatives embody an economic alternative to capitalist operations, the mention of well-known brands connotes the world of big business, and by amalgamation to strictly financial logics, which clash with the values consumers they associate with cooperatives.…”

“…Faure-Ferlet et al (2017) find many positive associations with cooperative governance within the social representation of French consumers, which induces positive feelings toward cooperatives. The most frequently mentioned associations in the agri-food sector concern the small size of cooperative farms and their geographical proximity, which allows producers to be fairly remunerated.…”

“…They benefit from a socially responsible image (Lecuyer et al, 2019) that reinforces the effectiveness of their communication (Lecuyer et al, 2017). On the French market, consumers mobilize the social representation of cooperatives when they evaluate food products (Faure-Ferlet et al, 2017). This representation includes a set of clichés structured around three main categories: “ agriculture ,” “ proximity ,” and “ community.…”

“…The results put forward by previous research concerning a better explicit evaluation of cooperative supply may partly stem from the process of automatic sensation transfer described in our first hypothesis. On the other hand, cooperatives are explicitly associated with small local farms that offer short circuit food products (Faure-Ferlet et al, 2017). These characteristics are able to directly benefit the explicitly perceived taste of the products, as is the case for the product's indication of origin (Merle et al, 2016).…”