Organics, trust, and credibility: a management and media research perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Our purpose was to qualify the relations between trust, credibility, and the field of organics by way of creating a dialogue between two independent Organic Research, Development and Demonstration Programme "MultiTrust" subprojects. Both projects explore the explanatory value of trust and credibility for the success of organic labels in the fields of management research and media research. Our key objectives were to critically scrutinize the trust and credibility constructs applied in each of these two fields, to reflect on their explanatory value in the performance of organics from both a management and media perspective, and to set out an agenda for future interdisciplinary research. We conclude that relations between organic products, labels, and consumers are still poorly understood, that the belief in organic labels' direct impact on consumer choices in favor of organic food purchase cannot be supported, and that the explanatory value of trust for the success of organic production remains unproven. We propose for future research to investigate the relevance of credibility and trust for organics in multidisciplinary mixed-methods studies that focus on the emergence of trust, as well as on other social factors impacting the success of organic production. This would best be achieved through interdisciplinary work.Key Words: credibility; customer; management; media; organic food; organic labels; trust INTRODUCTIONOur purpose is to qualify the relations between trust, credibility, and the field of organics by way of creating a dialogue between two independent Organic Research, Development and Demonstration Programme (Organic RDD) "MultiTrust" subprojects. Both projects explore the explanatory value of trust and credibility in the use of organic labels in the fields of management research, including organization and marketing, and media research, including communication and rhetoric. Our key objectives are to critically scrutinize the trust and credibility constructs applied in each of these two fields to reflect on their explanatory value in the performance of organics from both a management and media perspective and to set out an agenda for future interdisciplinary research.

Does Water Context Matter in Water Conservation Decision Behaviour?

“…It can also be referred to the way a person generates a judgment [25]. In information science, credibility tends to be defined as the degree to which people trust the information they receive [26], whereas in the media literature, it is also considered a precondition of trust [27]. Therefore, in these research areas, both concepts are differently conceptualized [28].…”

“…However, person's trust in not controllable, since each one determines externally to the source whether the information received is true or not. Therefore, trust is more based on relational aspects than on the nature of the information transmitted by the source and received by the individual [27].…”

Opportunities and challenges for multicriteria assessment of food system sustainability

“…The papers in this Special Feature differ in the weight they put on these two challenges, from papers that emphasize the role of assessments in enhancing the knowledge basis for making decisions toward sustainability transformation through better tools and tool choices , Peano et al 2014, Schader et al 2014, to papers that emphasize different approaches to exposing the value basis (Thorsøe et al 2014, Alrøe andNoe 2016) and working with the value basis for taking actions toward sustainability transformation in form of value http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol21/iss1/art38/ communication (Kastberg 2015), motivation (Laessøe et al 2014), and trust (Freyer et al 2014, Rittenhofer andPovlsen 2015). However, none of the papers explicate this difference between working with better knowledge or stronger values in the development of methods and tools for sustainability transformation.…”

“…Rittenhofer and Povlsen (2015) critically scrutinize the construction of trust and credibility and how this influences the performance of organics within both a management and media research perspective. They conclude that belief in organic labels' direct impact on consumer choices cannot be supported, that the concept of trust in the relations between organic products, labels, and consumers is still poorly understood, and that the explanatory value of trust for the success of organic production remains unproven.…”

“…This theme involves fundamental considerations on the conception of values in different assessment perspectives (Thorsøe et al 2014), the role of complementarity in sustainability assessment (Alrøe and Noe 2016), and the role of motivation (Laessøe et al 2014), communication (Kastberg 2015), and trust (Freyer et al 2014, Rittenhofer andPovlsen 2015) in organic food systems. The benefits of bringing in different research perspectives, and the problems and methodological issues in doing so, characterize most of the papers in this theme.…”