Ethical Labels Research Articles

Preferences for processed tomato products’ attributes: an explorative analysis of Italian consumers using a large sample

IntroductionPrice competition in the tomato market may lead Italian processing companies to adopt product differentiation strategies to attract consumers and raise revenues. Exploring consumers’ preferences for processed tomato products’ attributes can support companies in implementing product differentiation strategies and succeed in the market.MethodsThis study used a convenience sample of 602 Italian consumers to identify consumers’ preferences for processed tomato products’ attributes selected through a literature review and tested by the Best Worst Scaling (BWS) method. Also, a two-step cluster analysis was used to identify and size consumer groups with common preferences for tested product’s attributes.ResultsOverall, our results showed that Italian consumers of processed tomato products strongly preferred attributes such as Country of origin, Organic, and Social and economic sustainability labels. In addition, the analysis shows the existence of three distinct consumer segments such as “traditional,” “price-sensitive,” and “sustainable” consumers. The largest one was price-sensitive consumers followed by sustainable and traditional ones.DiscussionOur findings have practical implications for producers and policymakers. Producers may use claims about the product’s origin jointly with an organic production logo and ethical label to differentiate their products and raise revenues. Likewise, policymakers should enhance monitoring and control measures to ensure with environmental, social, and economic sustainable standards compliance. This will support building consumer trust for those credence attributes. Overall, this study adds valuable insights to the existing literature on consumer preferences for processed tomato products, providing results with high external validity using a large convenience sample.

Does the Eco-Score lead to a halo effect? Influence of a sustainability label on product perceptions and purchase intention

The Eco-Score is an approach to make the environmental impact of a food product visible using color-coded labeling. Previous research has shown the potential of organic and ethical labels to influence consumers’ perceptions of other product features – what is called the halo effect. Using an online questionnaire with a between-subject design and a representative sample for Germany (N = 1010), we examined whether the Eco-Score might also induce halo effects. Therefore, we evaluated how consumers assess the perceived environmental friendliness, expected tastiness, and perceived healthiness of packaged foods with or without an Eco-Score. We consider three different products (spaghetti, yoghurt, and crisps) in three treatment groups (Eco-Scores A, C, and E) and one control group (no label). For our statistical analyses, we employed repeated-measures ANOVAs and regression-based mediation analyses. Our results show that products are perceived as more (Eco-Score A) or less (Eco-Score E) environmentally friendly when labelled with the Eco-Score and this perception mediates the purchase intention positively or negatively, respectively. Furthermore, our results suggest that the Eco-Score can bias consumer perceptions of other food product characteristics. In particular, the Eco-Score E negatively influences expected tastiness and perceived healthiness, which lowers purchase intention. Regression-based moderation analyses show further that participants with high environmental or health concern are in part more susceptible to positive halo effects. However, overall, the moderator effects are small. The paper extends the literature on halo effects related to food labeling and hence provides important insights on perceptions of food products labelled with a color-coded scoring system. Theoretical and practical implications as well as avenues for future research are discussed.

Consumers preferences and social sustainability: a discrete choice experiment on ‘Quality Agricultural Work’ ethical label in the Italian fruit sector

The Italian legislator has adopted several instruments to discourage undeclared work and exploitative labour in agriculture, mostly of a penal-repressive nature. Among the direct and indirect policy measures, the ‘Quality Agricultural Work Network’ represents an interesting approach to producing a ‘whitelist’ of farmers compliant with labour regulations. A law proposal intends to establish the ‘Quality Agricultural Work’ (QAW) ethical label to incentivise farmers to join the network, to which a limited percentage of farms have signed up. This study aims to investigate consumer preferences for the QAW label in the Italian fruit sector. We conducted a choice experiment on a sample of 324 consumers. Willingness to pay for ethical labels was estimated before and after information treatment was administered to evaluate the prospective effects of promotional and information campaigns. The information treatment conveyed a clear and concise message about the QAW project and its ethical label. The results show that consumers would pay a high price premium for fruit produced under fair working conditions, indicating that there may be a market space for the QAW label. Moreover, consumers perceive environmental and social sustainability claims as complementary contexts where both dimensions of sustainability are relevant.Graphical abstract

Ethical labels and conspicuous consumption: impact on civic virtue and cynicism in luxury foodservice

PurposeThe primary objective of this study is to explore the nuanced interplay of conspicuous consumption, ethical label purchasing and the ensuing dynamics of civic virtue and cynicism within the luxury foodservice context.Design/methodology/approachGrounded in a theoretical understanding of solidarity within the context of product consumption, this research employs a two-pronged approach involving secondary data analysis and scenario-based experimental studies. The initial phase involves analyzing firm-level data from the Euromonitor database in 2019 and 2021. The main study employs a between-subjects experimental design with a cohort of 316 participants sourced from an online panel.FindingsThe results reveal a consistent pattern in the consumption of luxury foodservice and underscore a distinct upward trajectory in consumer demand for ethically labeled food. Notably, these findings underscore the moderating role of ethical label purchasing in the relationship between conspicuous consumption and consumers civic virtue. Additionally, ethical label purchasing moderates the impact of conspicuous consumption on consumer cynicism, both directly and indirectly through emotional solidarity related to both communal and equitable principles.Originality/valueThis study holds significance for both luxury food service researchers and market design practitioners. It provides valuable insights into how ethical labeling interacts with consumers conspicuous consumption, all facilitated by emotional solidarity.

Marketing Tactics for Sustainable Fashion and the Circular Economy: The Impact of Ethical Labels on Fast Fashion Choice

This study aimed to contribute to the empirical literature on ethical fashion labelling. It investigates if complex, ethical, point-of-sale labels that ‘rate’ products’ ethical status on an ordinal scale influence consumer evaluations of fast-fashion garments (a) in any significant way at all and (b) in a way that is consistent with their reported ethical scores. In an experiment, 400 consumers evaluated a set of four fast-fashion garments with two levels of the Tearfund ordinal ethical label, a generic binary ethical label and garments with no label. Purchase intention was the dependent variable. The presence of a Tearfund label promoted significantly higher fast-fashion garment purchase intention, whatever ethical status the label was indicating. Thus, the rating label did significantly influence fast-fashion garment purchase intention, but not in any useful way. This is a novel and significant finding that indicates that fashion ethical labels are evaluated by using similar subconscious heuristic decision processes to those found in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) markets. Ethical labels that rely on cognitive processing by the consumer may therefore be ineffective, and simpler iconic brand-like label systems that can support subconscious processing may be more useful in a fast-fashion setting.

Animals or Humans: What Do Greek Consumers Care More about When Buying Feta Cheese?

Over the last few years, the global consumer concerns for quality standards in food production and distribution have increased, and actions towards a more sustainable agrifood system have become necessary. Ethical labeling schemes, such as animal welfare and fair labor, can help in this direction. To better understand if these labels are indeed an important element in consumer’s buying decisions and to be able to quantify the magnitude of their importance, this study uses the contingent valuation method. Results reveal that respondents place a positive value on both labeling schemes, and they are willing to pay an average premium of 27% and 36% for feta cheese carrying an animal welfare and a fair labor label, respectively. Estimated willingness to pay (WTP) values are affected by demographic characteristics as well as attitudinal variables such as gender, age, prior knowledge of ethical certification labels, purchase frequency and ethically minded purchasing behavior. Overall results suggest that there is a strong market opportunity for both labeling schemes Ethical labeling can be an effective marketing tool for producers and distributors seeking to differentiate their feta cheese products. Furthermore, it is implied that consumers value issues related to labor exploitation in the dairy farming sector higher than inhuman treatment of animals.

Can fashion ever be fair?

The recent global economic crisis has highlighted the vulnerability of millions of women in apparel supply chains worldwide. Despite decades of activism and a plethora of corporate social responsibility and ethical labelling initiatives, there has been little evidence of progress toward greater equity in the fashion sector. Why can’t we make fashion more fair? This article explains historically rooted causes of inequity for Black and Brown women in apparel supply chains and details the rise of Fair Trade initiatives intended to use market forces to improve existing practices and support alternatives. Attempts to use consumerism and market forces to drive social change raised deep questions for social movement actors regarding first principles. Notwithstanding years of effort, Fair Trade apparel has failed to achieve any significant market penetration. Yet the sector as a whole is experiencing overlapping shocks of digitisation, climate change and pandemic-exacerbated disruptions to supply chains. Social movement actors are also targeting the sector with new demands for social and economic justice. This may provide opportunities to redesign our thinking around Fair Trade and what constitutes fairness in fashion.

Product Choice: Does Eco-Labeling Play an Important Role in Apparel Consumption in India?

Anecdotal evidence suggests that eco-labeling can be used as a communication tool. Although a considerable amount of eco-labeling research has been undertaken over the last few decades, only one study was conducted in India. The majority of labeling studies were conducted in the United States and Europe. The overarching objective of this study is to investigate how gender and age may affect the consumers’ reliance on sustainable labels to guide their purchases in India. In total, 309 usable surveys were collected from 198 females (64.1%) and 111 males (35.9%). Our findings revealed that both men and women perceived clothing fit and comfort as the two most significant evaluative cues. In general, Indian consumers rely a great deal more on the fit, comfort and style to evaluate clothing than on eco-labels and ethical labels. This implies that apparel shoppers are unlikely to sacrifice physical comfort and aesthetics for sustainability. Many Indian consumers are value-oriented shoppers. They often shop around to search for the best value to justify their choices, while satisfying their physical and psychological needs. In terms of the effects of age, younger consumers are relatively more familiar with sustainable labels than their older counterparts.

A Preliminary Investigation of the Effect of Ethical Labeling and Moral Self-Image on the Expected and Perceived Flavor and Aroma of Beer

Ethical labelling has been shown to influence taste/flavour perception. Across two experiments, the present study examined how ethical labelling and moral self-image influenced both the expected (Experiment One) and perceived (Experiment Two) taste/flavour characteristics of beer. In Experiment One, 170 participants read either a ‘moral’ or ‘control’ label describing a brewery, after which they were presented with an image of a beer. Participants then completed a Beer Taste Perception Questionnaire and the Moral Self-Image Scale. In Experiment Two, 59 participants were exposed to either the moral or control label before tasting a beer and completing the same questionnaires from Experiment One. The results of Experiment One indicated that label type moderated the relationship between moral self-image and the intensity ratings of the beer. Specifically, in the presence of a control label, the expected intensity of the beer’s flavour increased as moral self-image increased. Experiment Two found no evidence that the moral label influenced the perceived taste of the beer. However, the results showed that as moral self-image became more positive the perceived refreshingness of the beer increased. This study provides novel evidence of the potential relationship between an individual’s moral self-image and the expected and perceived taste/flavour characteristics of beer.

Consumer transition to a green economy: The role of third-party certified eco-labels

In order to reduce the asymmetry of knowledge between producers and consumers, many organizations promote the use of eco-labels certified by independent third parties, with the purpose of identifying those products or services that have minor impact on the environment throughout their entire life cycle. However, since there are currently a high number of ethical labels and claims and consumers are usually confused about their real meaning. This research is intended to analyze whether consumers attribute organic properties to products identified by third-party certified eco-labels to the same extent that to other third-party certified sustainability labels and other non-certified organic claims. A survey study was carried out with a sample of 200 university business students and ANOVA analysis was used to verify differences in the meaning attributed to different labels. In general terms, the results of the study allow to conclude that consumers do not have a precise knowledge about the meaning of different sustainability dimensions certified by official seals, nor do they know how to differentiate them from non-certified advertising claims. One of the main practical implications of this work has to do with the critical analysis of the effectiveness of Community regulations on eco-labelling and green advertising claims.

Ethical Branding in the Modern Retail: A Comparison of Italy and UK Ethical Coffee Branding Strategies

Modern markets can be seen as complex systems of relationships where stakeholders are able to influence the firms’ decision-making processes and their value creation processes. Modern businesses should adopt a broader perspective in order to not focus their actions only on maximize economic performance, but to design them considering even their social and environmental impacts on the system as a whole. Firms have to respond to the stakeholders’ expectations as a way to obtain the legitimacy needed to create a beneficial environment that will help them in creating a positive effect out of their system of relations, without violating the social contract tying together all the actors in a given system. It follows that, when companies can effectively communicate to their systems’ actors how they are following the principles of sustainability and prove that their actions are socially responsible, they can get several advantages. One of the way companies must accomplish this feat is to ask third parties to certify their actions in order to be able to print on their products one of the various Ethical Labels. Using these labels to mark their products can be a tool to influence the consumer to buy from the firm over the competitors, leveraging on a higher legitimacy.
 
 In this paper, we have studied the evolution of the practice of non-financial disclosure trough ethical labels that 14 coffee brands, both in Italy and in England, as a way to understand how, in different markets they have changed over a 5-year time.

Dichotomous Thinking and Ethical Consumerism: Overcoming the Negative Effects of Self-Interest Bias through Third-Person Narrative Persuasion

The authors examine consumer attitudes toward ethically labeled products and demonstrate that consumers who think dichotomously tend to favor their own self-interests over the social good by choosing mainstream noncertified products over products displaying ethical labels such as fair trade and Fair Wear. The authors further suggest that advertisers can use a third-person perspective to attenuate the negative effects of dichotomous thinking, increase purchase intentions, and encourage consumption of ethically certificated products. Findings from five studies on various ethically labeled products (such as food and clothing) with a diverse group of study participants (American consumers from a popular tourist spot, an online panel, and college students) provided convergent evidence supporting the hypotheses. Theoretical contributions and implications for marketers, policymakers, and consumers are addressed.

The Impact of Social Responsibility Disclosure on Corporate Financial Health: Evidences from Some Italian Public Companies

Companies are today often seen as one actor in a complex system linking all the actors with several, different ties, and binding them by a social contract asking each of them to meet the expectations of the other social actors in the same context, in order to get the legitimacy they need. Corporations can adopt social disclosure to increase their legitimacy towards all stakeholders, influencing their behavior and leading to the creation of a positive Corporate Association (Brown and Dacin, 1997). 
 
 In this paper we investigate the relationship between Social Responsibility Disclosure practices and Corporate Performance. We develop a framework to study this topic through several perspectives: External evaluation (Ethical Ratings), utilization of specific behaviors (Ethical Labels), Principle (Code of Ethics) and Behaviors (Social Reports) disclosure. In order to get a first understanding of these relationships we have selected a sample of Italian Companies listed on the italian stock exchange.

Multidimensional Labelling: Closing the Sustainability Information Gap between Producers, Consumers and Sustainability Science in the Food Sector

Product labels are designed to diminish producer–consumer information asymmetry, which represents a typical information gap. However, sustainability science, in its broadest sense, is another 'agent' for achieving sustainable development, while producer–science and consumer–science information gaps can also be identified. As a step towards closing these gaps, we propose a multidimensional form of eco-labelling in the food sector: a well-chosen system of labels that refer to the possible trade-offs known to sustainability science. The dimensions proposed in our model reflect types of negative environmental effects: the entities harmfully affected by production may be (1) other, non-human species (OTHER; 0th party), (2) other people thousands of miles away in space (FARTHER; 1st party), (3) consumers themselves in the present (HERE; 2nd party), or (4) other people later in time (LATER; 3rd party). We apply this framework to ethical labelling in the food sector.

The Meat in the Sandwich: Welfare Labelling and the Governance of Meat‐chicken Production in Australia

This article critically examines the degree to which higher‐animal welfare label claims change animal welfare regulation and governance within intense meat‐chicken ('broiler') production in Australia. It argues that ethical labelling claims on food and other products can be seen as a ‘governance space’ in which various government, industry and civil society actors compete and collaborate for regulatory impact. It concludes that ethical labelling can act as a pathway for re‐embedding social concerns in the market, but only when it prompts changes that become enshrined in standard practice and possibly the law itself. Moreover, the changes wrought by ethical labelling are small and incremental. Nevertheless, labelling may create ongoing productive tension and ‘overflow’ that challenges the market to listen to and accommodate actors (including animals) on the margins to create ongoing incremental changes.

Exploring Influences of Different Communication Approaches on Consumer Target Groups for Ethically Produced Beef

Communicating the process quality of ethically produced food effectively is of highest interest to policy makers, organizations, retailers and producers in order to enhance ethical food production and increase ethical label use. The objective of this paper is to unveil the effectiveness of different communication treatments in regard to changing purchase behavior of different consumer groups. Different communication material for beef produced according to consumer expectations was compiled and applied in a consumer survey—incorporating a choice experiment and a questionnaire—with 676 respondents in three cities of Germany. A Latent Class Mixed Logit Model was basis to identify different consumer segments and their response to the different communication treatments. The effects of different communication treatments unveil the importance to address information in an objective manner. Target groups could be enlarged through the assessment of clear, objective information. Moreover, most consumers were more likely to refrain from choosing a cheap beef product from conventional, barn-based rearing. Hence, consumers might be interested in reducing their overall consumption of beef and prefer the consumption of high value ethical beef with less frequency. Producers, market actors and policy makers should realize that a high share of consumers, not only smaller target groups, value ethical food and may be ready to change their consumption habits, if they are adequately informed.

Value similarity and overall performance: trust in responsible investment

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show how overall performance can help foster trust in financial institutions. While a climate of mistrust amongst investors and the general public toward financial institutions has developed since the recent turmoil in the financial markets, it is believed that mutual funds adopting the overall performance approach can help recover a climate of trust owing to the implied balance between economic, social and environmental performance. More specifically, overall performance promotes values that are similar to investors’ values and could be used by responsible investment funds if they want to contribute to the restoration of trust in investment funds.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses an innovative, experimental design to test the effect of value similarity on the trust that investors have in the investment fund. This effect cannot be studied in isolation, which is why it is compared with the effects of financial performance and ethical labeling on trust.FindingsThe authors find that funds with similar values are perceived as more trustworthy by investors. Consequently, overall performance should be added to fund managers' toolbox if they want to foster trust in their fund. The effect of financial performance on trust applies only when the investor has no other information regarding the fund. As for the ethical labeling of funds, it has no effect on trust.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings encourage research that aims to develop a comprehensive approach of integrated overall performance focusing on financial and extra-financial values. Bonnet et al.’s (2016) fieldwork on socio-economic management and Naro and Travaillé©’s (2016) work on management controllers provide promising examples in this regard.Practical implicationsInvestment funds can acquire an edge by communicating on overall performance and specific values of their target investors. Merely labeling funds as ethical is not sufficient to increase trust.Social implicationsIncreasing similarity in values to investors and adopting the overall performance approach in investment funds will increase investors' trust. Trust contributes to social capital and allows societies to create flexible large-scale businesses needed to be competitive in a global environment.Originality/valueUsing an innovative experimental methodology, this paper shows that the underlying factor of overall performance on trust in investment funds is value similarity. It provides researchers and practitioners with insight about the underlying mechanisms of the effect of overall performance on trust.

New Grounds in the Fair Trade Debate

New Grounds in the Fair Trade Debate Timothy Dzurilla (bio) Daniel Jaffee, Brewing Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability, and Survival( 2dedition Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2014), ISBN: 9780520282247, 432 pages; April Linton, Fair Trade from the Ground Up(Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2012), ISBN: 9780295991726, 200 pages; Fair Trade and Social Justice: Global Ethnographies( Sara Lyon & Mark Moberg eds., New York, NY: New York University Press, 2010), ISBN: 9780814796214, 320 pages; Tamara Stenn, The Cultural and Political Intersection of Fair Trade and Justice(New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), ISBN: 9781137331557, 288 pages. Since the 1980s, the “fair trade” labeling system has evolved with the explicit aim of addressing structural inequalities in global markets by enabling consumers to voluntarily purchase ethically-produced goods. Fair trade (FT) is institutionally grounded by a set of shared principles and standards which are upheld by global oversight organizations and then communicated to consumers through ethical labeling on products. The principles of fair trade include paying a fair wage, equal employment opportunities, and financial and technical assistance to producers. Fair trade has expanded rapidly over the past ten years with consumers globally spending $1.3 billion on fair trade products in 2005, $3.3 billion in 2007, and over $7 billion on products produced by more than 1.4 million farmers and workers from seventy-four countries in 2013. 1Academic interest in the topic has grown along with this expansion of fair trade. Scholars concerned with development, poverty reduction, human rights, [End Page 236]and business ethics have examined fair trade from a range of disciplines including economics, sociology, anthropology, and political science. This review of four books analyzes the impact of the fair trade labeling scheme on producers and considers whether or not fair trade enables conscientious consumers to encourage a more ethical system of international trade. Daniel Jaffee’s 2014 book, Brewing Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability, and Survival, is an update of his 2007 study assessing the impact of fair trade policies on a producer communities through an in-depth comparison of coffee producing communities in Oaxaca, Mexico. 2The new edition further considers the implications for the fair trade movement with its rapid expansion and inclusion of multinational corporate partners. Political Scientist April Linton’s Fair Trade from the Ground Upprovides a comprehensive review of fair trade literature within her own home discipline and several others (including sociology and anthropology) along with original empirical research that analyzes how producer groups spend their social premium and how consumers grow the movement. 3Development practitioner and educator Tamara Stenn’s book, The Cultural and Political Intersection of Fair Trade and Justiceanalyzes fair trade through a human development lens from the perspective of an experienced fair trader. 4Finally, Sarah Lyon and Mark Moberg’s 2010 edited volume, Fair Trade and Social Justice: Global Ethnographiesoffers an integrated set of contributions that critically analyze whether the professed values of fair trade are reflected in concrete outcomes at the producer cooperatives, individual producers, or consumer level. 5 Two debates persist in the field. First, scholars disagree on how to conceptualize fair trade. It alternatively functions as a social movement, an ethical market, or a business model; although theoretically, there are not clear delineations of when and where fair trade functions as one or more of these. These rival conceptualizations pivot around different understandings of the agency of Northern consumers within global trade networks and their relationship to their Southern counterparts. Second, while scholars generally agree that fair trade benefits producers, there is a lack of consensus on the level of benefits and whether or not they are equally enjoyed across industry sectors and geographic regions. The literature lacks mid-level theorization concerning why social and economic outcomes vary across fair trade communities. Moving forward, this review provides a brief summary of each of these books while paying particular attention to fair trade conceptualization and impacts on producers. Daniel Jaffee’s book Brewing Justiceinvestigates the impact of fair trade on coffee producing communities in Oaxaca, Mexico by qualitatively and quantitatively comparing the social and economic indicators of a community involved in fair trade production and conventional trade...

Mobilizing the ethical consumer in South Africa

This paper presents a critical engagement with current initiatives for ethically-labeled goods in South Africa, thus offering an intervention in a literature on ethical consumption that has previously prioritized the global North. Through an interview-based methodology supported by focus groups in the Western Cape, the paper attends specifically to the strategies shaping recent forms of ethical consumption in South Africa on the part of business and civil society. Campaigns and strategies associated with three of the most prominent ethical labeling initiatives in South Africa—Proudly South African, Fairtrade Label South Africa and the Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI)—are evaluated. Barnett et al.’s (2011: 90) notion of “mobilizing the ethical consumer” is brought into conversation with ethical consumption literature on local embeddedness in order to assess the ways in which the organizations responsible for these initiatives combine globalizing business and political networks of responsibility with local institutions and values in South Africa. The role played by the discursive construction of a growing South African ‘middle class’ is also acknowledged as part of the process of encouraging ethical consumption on the part of these actors. In conclusion, it is suggested that understanding ethical consumption in South Africa, as elsewhere, requires sensitivity to both transnational networks of globalizing responsibility and localized expressions of ethical consumption.

The Positive Side of Negative Labelling

Ethical labels signal positive ethical quality of a product but fail to create massive demand for such products. Based on regulatory focus theory and prospect theory, it is argued that negative signalling of low ethical quality would have a stronger effect on the adoption of ethical products than the current positive signalling of high ethical quality. The effect of positive versus negative signalling of high versus low ethical quality on attitude and preference formation is tested in three experimental studies (N = 81; N = 170; N = 177). Results show (1) that negative labelling has more effect on attitude and preference than positive labelling, (2) that the effect of labelling is enhanced by regulatory fit, and (3) that the effect of labelling is mediated by personal norms. No evidence of either mediation or moderation by environmental concern was found.