The Role of Trust in Explaining Food Choice: Combining Choice Experiment and Attribute Best-Worst Scaling.

Ching-Hua Yeh,Monika Hartmann,Nina Langen

doi:10.3390/foods9010045

Ching-Hua Yeh, Monika Hartmann + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9010045

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Abstract

This paper presents empirical findings from a combination of two elicitation techniques—discrete choice experiment (DCE) and best–worst scaling (BWS)—to provide information about the role of consumers’ trust in food choice decisions in the case of credence attributes. The analysis was based on a sample of 459 Taiwanese consumers and focuses on red sweet peppers. DCE data were examined using latent class analysis to investigate the importance and the utility different consumer segments attach to the production method, country of origin, and chemical residue testing. The relevance of attitudinal and trust-based items was identified by BWS using a hierarchical Bayesian mixed logit model and was aggregated to five latent components by means of principal component analysis. Applying a multinomial logit model, participants’ latent class membership (obtained from DCE data) was regressed on the identified attitudinal and trust components, as well as demographic information. Results of the DCE latent class analysis for the product attributes show that four segments may be distinguished. Linking the DCE with the attitudinal dimensions reveals that consumers’ attitude and trust significantly explain class membership and therefore, consumers’ preferences for different credence attributes. Based on our results, we derive recommendations for industry and policy.

Highlights

IntroductionFood safety and quality have been highly debated and investigated topics in policy, industry, and research
Over the last decades, food safety and quality have been highly debated and investigated topics in policy, industry, and research
We provided participants with an “opt-out” option, which ensured that participants were not forced to choose a product they normally would not purchase

Summary

Introduction

Food safety and quality have been highly debated and investigated topics in policy, industry, and research. This holds for industrialized as well as emerging countries, such as Taiwan. High—and in parts, improper—use of chemical inputs in Taiwanese agriculture [5] has led to illegal levels of chemical residues in food products, with considerable danger for the immediate and long-term health of consumers [6]. Reports/food-agriculture/) sampled 58 fresh fruits and vegetables in eight supermarket chains across. Detected 36 different pesticide residues above the maximum allowable levels in 43 types of fruits and vegetables. In the same year the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration discovered a major

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