Hungry for Answers: Misperceptions Arising from Sustainability Labeling (An Abstract)

Abstract

While consumers are increasingly searching for ways to make more environmentally friendly food decisions, prior research suggests that the variety and complexity of existing sustainability communications on packaged foods pose as one of the greatest challenges for consumers. Moreover, the variety of food categories carrying sustainability labeling may cause further obfuscation to the messages consumers perceive. For instance, prior expectations of healthy and unhealthy foods may cause for different reactions when packaged with a sustainability label. Skepticism of “green” communications may also influence how consumers respond to sustainability labels. Here, the effects of how sustainability level and perceived healthfulness influence consumers differently across sustainability skepticism levels are investigated as well as the underlying mechanism. Our studies seek to enhance effective communication of sustainability information on packaged food products while offering insight on how sustainability labeling can influence consumer decisions.