Effect of Institutional Trust on Consumers’ Health and Safety Perceptions and Repurchase Intention for Traceable Fresh Food

Edward Shih-Tse Wang,Hung-Chou Lin,Ming-Chie Tsai

doi:10.3390/foods10122898

Edward Shih-Tse Wang, Hung-Chou Lin + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10122898

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Abstract

Numerous food safety incidents have gained public attention and motivated consumers to seek safer and healthier products. Some governments have responded by enacting legislation to regulate the traceability of agricultural products and enhance food safety. To elucidate factors that affect consumers’ health and safety perceptions and repurchase intention for certified traceable fresh food, this study applied institutional trust theory to explore the effects of institutional trust (i.e., trust in government, certification organizations, producers, and retailers) on consumers’ food safety and health perceptions and repurchase intention. This study was conducted in Taiwan and enrolled 393 consumers who purchased certified traceable fresh food as survey participants. Structural equation modeling and multiple and stepwise regression analysis were performed for data analysis. The results indicated that trust in government, certification organizations, food producers, and food retailers was positively related to food safety perception; trust in certification organizations, food producers, and food retailers directly influenced food healthiness perception, whereas trust in government did not have a direct influence. Furthermore, trust in certification organizations and food producers influenced repurchase intention, whereas trust in government and food retailers did not. Based on these results, the current study provides some practical suggestions for traceable fresh food marketers to use institutional trust to improve consumers’ food health and safety perceptions and repurchase intention.

Highlights

Consuming varied fresh foods affords many health benefits [1], and eating fresh fruits and vegetables is vital to maintaining a healthy lifestyle [2]
Our results indicated that trust in certification organizations and food producers influenced repurchase intention but trust in government and food retailers did not significantly influence repurchase intention
The results of the present study indicated that for consumers of certified traceable fresh food, trust in certification organizations, producers, and retailers has a positive influence on their food health perception, whereas only trust in producers and certification organizations has a positive influence on repurchase intention

Summary

Introduction

Consuming varied fresh foods affords many health benefits [1], and eating fresh fruits and vegetables is vital to maintaining a healthy lifestyle [2]. Numerous food safety-related incidents worldwide, such as the discovery of dioxin- and antibiotic-contaminated meats and pesticide residues in foods, have increased public distrust in food safety [3]. Food safety incidents undermine consumer trust in the food supply chain [5]. Consumers’ growing concerns about food safety have increased public demands for food safety accountability [6]. Food safety concerns motivate consumers to seek safer, more natural foodstuffs and avoid unhealthy, synthetic products. Consumers are increasingly requesting for more exhaustive details [7]—ranging from raw materials and ingredients to production methods, packaging and pesticide or hormone residue levels—in foods consumed daily [8]. The interest in improving food traceability systems for supply chains is increasing [7,9]

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