Kombucha is an ancient beverage obtained by fermenting a sweetened tea infusion with a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY). Although its popularity has increased markedly in the past decade, there is still limited information on kombucha produced in Latin America, particularly regarding its physicochemical characteristics and antioxidant properties. In this study, the chemical composition and antioxidant capacity of eight commercial kombuchas from the Uruguayan market were evaluated. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed two distinct clusters among the samples, mainly differentiated by ethanol, glycerol, total polyphenols, antioxidant capacity, volatile acidity, and titratable acidity. This multivariate pattern reflected differences in fermentation progress, where samples with lower residual sugar and higher levels of fermentation metabolites also showed greater antioxidant potential. A high degree of variability was detected among Uruguayan kombucha brands, especially regarding acidity and ethanol levels, with several products surpassing the threshold established for non-alcoholic beverages. In this set of samples, locally produced kombuchas tended to show higher phenolic content and antioxidant capacity than the imported products, highlighting their promising potential as functional beverages. However, further studies with a larger sample size are needed to confirm these trends. This work represents the first report on the characterization of Uruguayan kombucha beverages and highlights the importance of establishing quality and regulatory standards to enhance product uniformity, safety, and consumer trust within the growing Latin American kombucha market. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.

The psychological journey: Interplay of brand awareness, perceived quality, and brand trust in shaping consumers' intention to buy gaming mobiles.

From greenwashing to green trust: Understanding the consumer behavior in the fashion industry.

Wine discrimination through an electronic nose based on SWCNTs functionalized with Zn phthalocyanine

ABSTRACT This study examines how user-generated content and brand-created content on social media shape consumer trust, attitude, and purchase intention in the restaurant industry, an experimental comparison not previously attempted with simultaneous cognitive and affective mediators. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response framework, a between-subjects experiment exposed 314 participants to realistic restaurant posts that differed only in content source. Perceived marketing efforts predicted purchase intention directly and indirectly through brand trust and brand attitude, with attitude the stronger mediator. User-generated content amplified the pathways to intention, whereas brand-created content raised baseline intention. Authenticity and control therefore operate through distinct, complementary mechanisms rather than a trade-off, confirming the dominance of affective over cognitive processes in hedonic services.

ABSTRACT In 1992, Singapore banned live poultry markets (LPMs) How has this veterinary and public health policy transformed how Singaporeans qualify chickens as healthy food? Drawing on archival research and fieldwork with consumers, vendors and veterinary officials, we show that consumers lost knowledge and skills used to evaluate the safety and quality of poultry. In contrast with many anthropological studies of food safety regulation, the prohibition of LPMs did not inspire resistance or alternative food movements but led to the emergence of new forms of consumer trust in expert veterinary authority, poultry vendors, and supermarket brands.

ABSTRACT Climate change anxiety is increasingly shaping consumer behavior, yet its role in luxury consumption remains underexplored. This study investigates how climate action perception (climate change anxiety) affects sustainable luxury consumer experiences, focusing on the moderating role of digital environmental concern and the mediating role of consumer‐centric green supply chain management (GSCM). Survey data from 865 respondents were analyzed within the framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior, Stakeholder Theory, and Ecological Modernization Theory. Results show that climate change anxiety significantly influences sustainable luxury experiences. GSCM mediates this relationship, transforming eco‐anxiety into increased consumer trust and satisfaction. Digital environmental concern negatively moderates the relationship between climate change anxiety and GSCM, indicating that higher digital concern weakens the effect of anxiety on demand for supply chain transparency. For luxury managers, this means designing transparent, ethical supply chains while also directly engaging emotionally with climate‐anxious consumers, especially those with high digital environmental concern.

Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play a vital role in the local economy; however, many still face challenges regarding visual branding and product identity. MSMEs in Panjang Jiwo, Surabaya, represent business actors who lack a strong logo and visual identity, leading to suboptimal brand image and product competitiveness. This assistance activity aims to enhance the understanding and capability of MSME owners in designing logos as a core element of visual branding and product identity. The implementation method includes observing MSME needs, discussing brand concepts, providing basic logo design training, and assisting in the design process and its application to promotional media and product packaging. The results indicate that the partner MSMEs successfully developed logos that represent the character, values, and uniqueness of their products visually. Furthermore, MSME owners gained increased knowledge regarding the importance of visual identity consistency in marketing. This logo design assistance is expected to strengthen brand image, increase consumer trust, and support the sustainability and development of MSMEs in Panjang Jiwo, Surabaya, amidst an increasingly competitive market.

This study examines the determinants of purchasing decisions, namely consumer trust, consumer experience, and consumer attitudes through purchase intentions at CV. Suara Mandiri Tegal, based on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Using a quantitative approach, data were collected from 275 respondents through a survey. The results showed consumer trust, consumer experience, and consumer attitudes significantly influence purchase intentions. Consumer trust, consumer attitudes, and purchase intentions significantly influence purchase decisions, while consumer experience does not have a direct influence on purchase decisions but influences them indirectly through purchase intentions as a full mediating variable.

Consumer concerns about food safety have intensified in recent years, as transparency and accountability in the food sector have become essential to maintaining public trust. This study examines how consumer-oriented corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices influence food safety perceptions, emphasizing the mediating role of customer satisfaction and the moderating role of loyalty. Drawing on stakeholder theory and signaling theory, we developed and tested a model using survey data from 498 chain restaurant consumers in China. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) results show that consumer/product safety CSR, ethical procurement and supply chain CSR, and environmental/social CSR all positively affect perceived food safety, although the effect of environmental/social CSR is relatively weaker. Moreover, customer satisfaction mediates the relationships between consumer/product safety CSR and perceived food safety, and between ethical procurement and supply chain CSR and perceived food safety, while customer loyalty strengthens the impact of satisfaction on safety perceptions. These findings contribute to consumer behavior and CSR literature by uncovering the psychological mechanisms through which CSR enhances food safety perceptions. For practitioners, the study highlights how CSR strategies can simultaneously improve satisfaction, strengthen loyalty, and build sustainable consumer trust in food safety.

Geographical indications (GIs) tags are types of certifications that identify products with unique characteristics and qualities linked to their geographical origin. This review article investigates consumer preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for GI products in India, which is gaining importance with the rapid growth of GI registration in the country. Through an extensive review of the literature, this study aims to explore complex interrelations among factors that are relevant in forming behaviour- and decision-making about GI products. The review also highlights the significance of consumer-related factors, product-related factors and place-of-purchase factors in determining WTP for GI products. This study underlines the importance of effective marketing and policies for the development of the GI products market, along with its associated economic benefits, while ensuring rural development and the preservation of traditional knowledge. Overcoming challenges in promoting consumer awareness and understanding of GIs, as well as cultivating a supportive legal and policy environment, is critical for leveraging the potential of GIs as a catalyst for rural development. The results provide evidence that illustrates GI products of higher quality and authenticity can positively influence consumers’ WTP. The factors that influence consumer preference are quality and distinctiveness of their product, promotion tools with a good product differentiation by GI labelling and certification, traditional and sustainable production methods and personal attitude. Willingness to pay is influenced by quality perception, consumer knowledge and awareness of GIs, self-attitude and sociodemographic factors. Geographical indications products enhance consumer trust and enable premium pricing through perceived quality and authenticity. They support rural development, preserve traditional knowledge and strengthen market differentiation in emerging and competitive economies. This study is significant because it provides a comprehensive synthesis of the determinants influencing consumer behaviour towards GI products and offers policy-relevant insights for strengthening GI-based rural development.

In this paper, we propose a benchmark dataset for categorization of fabric into two tasks: i) Classification of a given material into Silk versus Non-silk. ii) Identification of viewing method-Handloom or Powerloom. In the textile domain, due to high mislabelling and imitation, identifying Silk versus Non-silk fabrics and understanding the weave methodology is important for ensuring quality, cultural preservation, and catering to consumer preference. Since these are linked with economic value, material quality and consumer trust, misclassification can impact artisan income, the certification process and policy implementation; thus, protecting fair pricing and trust among buyers is necessary for buyers and industry stakeholders. The existing vision-based dataset are largely focused on fashion garments, defect detection, pattern garments, or addressing single-class studies. Hence, there is an absence of an RGB dataset that captures fabric weave geometry and contains samples from broader categories that jointly addresses two major tasks of textiles. To address these gaps, we introduce Fabric Identification and Loom Origin Evaluation FINE, a dataset captured using DSLR. The fabrics used are colourless and without prints to ensure that the dataset consists of images which are focused on the warp-weft structure of the fabric, and while training, the models are not affected by colour, patterns, prints or motifs during evaluation. We benchmark FINE using five state-of-the-art models: ResNet-50, EfficientNet-B0, ConvNeXt-Tiny, ViT-B/16, and Swin-T—and observe that transformer architectures outperform convolutional baselines, with ViT-B/16 achieving 98.37% accuracy for silk classification and 73.93% for loom origin. These results establish FINE as a strong benchmark for advancing textile informatics and industrial fabric authentication.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between social responsibility visibility and trust in a new seafood product while evaluating the influence of consumer attitudes on purchase intentions. To test the effects of visibility on trust and subsequent purchase intentions, an experimental procedure was implemented on a consumer panel of 706 participants. A structural equation model was used to analyze the proposed relationships. Results showed that trust fully mediated the relationship between visibility and purchase intention for the group with the ‘High Visibility’ socially responsible material. In addition, concern for the environment and age were significant predictors of purchase intentions. This study was the first to empirically assess the direct and indirect impact of social responsibility visibility initiatives on purchase intentions toward a new seafood product. Findings from this study help marketers frame social responsibility messaging to highlight and promote the purchase and consumption of sustainable fish.

Breast cancer awareness campaigns are increasingly exploited by corporations through “pinkwashing”—linking cancer-risk products to pink ribbon branding for market gain. Grounded in Signaling Theory, this study examines how pinkwashing perception affects purchase intention across two culturally distinct emerging markets. Consumer trust and brand equity serve as parallel mediators, reflecting cognitive and evaluative pathways through which credibility failures propagate to behavioral outcomes. Health consciousness and cause-brand fit serve as moderators, representing signal receiver conditions that amplify pinkwashing’s negative effects. Using a cross-national survey of 478 respondents from India (n = 261) and Malaysia (n = 217) and structural equation modeling (SEM) with multi-group SEM (MG-SEM), findings confirm that pinkwashing perception significantly erodes consumer trust and brand equity, thereby reducing purchase intention. Cross-national differences are notable: trust erosion is stronger in India (β = −0.461) than Malaysia (β = −0.352), while cause-brand fit amplification of brand equity damage is stronger in Malaysia (β = −0.251) than India (β = −0.192). These asymmetries demonstrate that a single standardized pinkwashing risk-mitigation strategy is insufficient for institutionally and culturally distinct markets. Findings offer global marketing managers actionable, country-specific insights to address pinkwashing’s credibility crisis and build authentic cause-related marketing strategies across diverse emerging markets.

Establishing food-safe cell lines and banks for cultivated meat: current status and future directions.

ABSTRACT The rise of e-commerce in India has revolutionized the way consumers shop, with sites like Amazon, Flipkart and Myntra handling millions of transactions each day. That expansion has, however, led to commensurate cybersecurity dangers such as phishing, hacking, ID theft, payment fraud, data breaches, and more. This study examines the implications of cybersecurity threats on e-commerce operations and the consumers’ trust in the e-commerce in India and highlights the major vulnerabilities and analyzes the effectiveness of cybersecurity countermeasures like encryption, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and AI-driven fraud detection. Primary survey data is collected from 150 respondents, and secondary analysis of published industry and regulatory reports is used to create a mixed methods approach. Research shows that 39 percent of consumers surveyed feel unsafe while making online payments, 34 percent have been victims of cyber fraud, and 48 percent of consumers are aware of common cyber frauds like phishing. The study shows that strong cybersecurity governance is not just a technical requirement but also a strategic lever to achieve sustainable growth in e-commerce in India. Suggestions are provided for IT auditors, information security professionals, and e-commerce platform operators.

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionised the way that digital travel platforms are personalised to improve user experience and decision-making. But there have been concerns about privacy and trust with the influx of personalised data to provide personalised recommendations. This study aims to explore the personalisation-privacy paradox by analysing the connections between AI-based personalisation, privacy concerns, trust and booking intention. Using quantitative research design, data were collected from 384 users of digital travel platforms and analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results suggest that personalisation has a positive impact on trust, and privacy concerns reduce the levels of trust and intention to book. The significant mediation of the relationship between personalisation and booking Behaviour by trust was found. This study adds to the existing body of work on consumer Behaviour facilitated by AI, emphasizing the need for a balance between personalisation and responsible data management to build consumer trust and engagement on platforms.

The scientific literature is increasingly challenged by miscitation, publication bias, and the uncritical perpetuation of false information. One such case concerns the purported presence of caffeine in damiana, a botanical ingredient marketed for "sexual well-being". While consumer perception and regulatory implications make caffeine content highly relevant, a systematic review of the literature indicates that claims of caffeine in damiana (Turnera diffusa) largely stem from erroneous or circular referencing, including citations of studies where caffeine was never reported. To address this discrepancy experimentally, we conducted NMR analyses on authenticated aerial and seed material of T. diffusa and seeds of T. ulmifolia. No caffeine was detected, with a detection limit of < 4 nM, corresponding to < 4 µg caffeine per daily serving of damiana. These findings confirm that damiana is effectively caffeine-free. Beyond correcting a specific phytochemical misconception, this study highlights how flawed referencing practices can perpetuate modern "scientific myths", emphasizing the need for more rigorous citation ethics and the value of experimental data. Addressing such errors is critical not only for scientific accuracy but also for consumer trust and evidence-based regulatory decision-making.

Consumer trust and post-purchase dynamics in the refurbished electronics market: The role of product quality, service, and brand reputation.

Consumer trust in sustainable seafood certification agencies: A comparative study across twelve markets