Towards Sustainable Diets: Understanding the Cognitive Mechanism of Consumer Acceptance of Biofortified Foods and the Role of Nutrition Information.

Amar Razzaq,Yifan Tang,Ping Qing

doi:10.3390/ijerph18031175

Amar Razzaq, Yifan Tang + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031175

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Abstract

Micronutrient malnutrition, also known as hidden hunger, continues to affect more than 2 billion people globally. Biofortification, which is a process of breeding staple crops with improved micronutrient contents such as vitamin A, iron, and zinc, offers a cost-effective and sustainable solution in reducing hidden hunger. However, the success of these foods depends on consumer acceptance. In contrast to previous studies, this research focuses on the mechanism of consumer acceptance of biofortified crops that undergo physical changes (i.e., changes in appearance) after biofortification. We use data on 473 Chinese consumers collected through online surveys to examine their purchase intentions for biofortified foods that have visible (vs. invisible) nutrition traits. Using two online surveys, we conduct two studies to reveal the mechanism and antecedents of consumer acceptance of different biofortified foods. In Study 1, we find that consumer purchase intentions vary depending upon the visibility of nutrition traits in biofortified foods. Specifically, consumers exhibit a nutrition-related food neophobia (NFN) regardless of visibility of the nutrition trait in biofortified foods; and a sensory-affective food neophobia (SFN) which is only pronounced when the nutrition trait in biofortified foods is visible. The results of the mediation analysis show that for both types of biofortified foods, NFN mediates consumers’ purchasing intentions. For foods that involve visible changes after biofortification, SFN acts as an additional mediator of consumer purchase intentions. Using ordered logistic regression analysis, we find that both food neophobias have a negative impact on consumer acceptance of biofortified foods. The results of Study 2 confirm our findings and further show that nutrition information moderates the mediation of NFN and SFN, i.e., the negative impact of NFN and SFN on purchase intentions can be reduced by providing nutrition information to consumers. The results of this study have several theoretical and practical implications and are of interest to stakeholders and marketers in the promotion of biofortified foods.

Highlights

Micronutrient malnutrition, known as hidden hunger, continues to affect more than 2 billion people globally [1]
Nutrition-related food neophobia (NFN): An independent sample t-test showed that participants’ rating on nutrition-related food neophobia (NFN) in the invisible nutrition trait condition was significantly higher than the control condition (Minvisible = 15.14, SD = 3.85; Mcontrol = 5.87, SD = 0.87; t(103) = 17.22; p < 0.001), indicating that invisible biofortification trait increased consumers’
A 10,000 resample bootstrap analysis revealed that the indirect effect of NFN on purchase intentions is significant for participants who did not receive nutrition information (β = 1.189, SE = 0.071, 95% CI is 1.051 to 1.332)

Summary

Introduction

Micronutrient malnutrition, known as hidden hunger, continues to affect more than 2 billion people globally [1] This problem is widespread in Asia and Africa, where people rely heavily on staple foods resulting in low dietary diversity and micronutrient malnutrition. Researchers have shown an increased interest in consumer acceptance of country-specific biofortified crops [5,6,7,8]. The results of these studies are encouraging, suggesting that consumers prefer biofortified foods [9,10].

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