Yuko Onozaka

Does Local Labeling Complement or Compete with Other Sustainable Labels? A Conjoint Analysis of Direct and Joint Values for Fresh Produce Claim

As a way to explore the increasing use of sustainability labels in the marketplace, this study analyzes the differential values and interactive effects of sustainable production claims (organic, fair trade, and carbon footprint) and location claims through a conjoint choice experiment included in a 2008 U.S. survey. Locally grown is the highest valued claim, and its value is further enhanced with fair trade certification, but carbon-intensive local products are discounted more severely than those sourced from other locations. Some negatively valued claims (imports and carbon footprint) can be mitigated by combining them with other claims (organic and fair trade). Copyright 2011, Oxford University Press.

Consumer Motivations and Buying Behavior: The Case of the Local Food System Movement

The significant attention and growth surrounding sustainable foods has created a demand for research investigating different factors that can aid in predicting and explaining consumer behavior. This article utilized an attitude-behavior framework, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), to identify factors that might influence consumer valuation of organic, fair trade, and local labeled food. Approximately 1,000 consumers from a 2008 nationwide survey were used in data analyses. Some TPB determinants proved successful in understanding consumer motivations (behavioral control, social norms). These results can be used by a wide variety of food marketers to connect with consumers to promote effective marketing strategies of sustainable food products

When Diseases Hit Aquaculture: An Experimental Study of Spillover Effects from Negative Publicity

Abstract Aquaculture, as all animal production, is exposed to diseases which can cause negative publicity and market impacts. A recent example is the Chilean salmon farming industry, which is currently facing unprecedented economic losses due to an outbreak of infectious salmon anemia. We conducted two consumer experiments to investigate spillover effects of negative publicity on consumer valuation of seafood products from unaffected countries and species, as well as a potential mitigating strategy that an affected industry might use. We find significant negative spillover effects on the same species produced in unaffected countries and on other fish species farmed within the affected country. We also find that building a brand association with an upscale retailer does not improve the consumer valuation (i.e., no positive spillover effects) for products from directly and indirectly affected countries of the affected species. JEL Classification Codes: Q13, Q22.

Throwing It All Away: Exploring Affluent Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Wasting Edible Food

ABSTRACT The skewed allocation of food across the world population is a major concern, as the result is that some of us live in abundant supply while others spend their life in constant scarcity. While researchers have studied a variety of issues related to the amounts of food being wasted, or the waste of edible food across consumers with different demographic characteristics, less is known about the drivers of attitudes toward food waste. Based on survey data from a sample of affluent Norwegian consumers, we test how subjective food knowledge, environmental concern, age, and income are related to consumer attitudes toward wasting edible food. We find that all variables except income drive consumer attitudes. Implications for theory and public policy are offered.

Consumer Product Perceptions and Salmon Consumption Frequency: The Role of Heterogeneity Based on Food Lifestyle Segments

ABSTRACT Seafood consumers are vastly heterogeneous in terms of their knowledge, confidence, and perceptions about seafood. This article examines the relationship between consumer perceptions (healthiness, value for money, and convenience) and salmon consumption frequencies while modeling unobserved consumer heterogeneity by segmenting consumers based on their food-related lifestyle. We employ latent class analysis (LCA) that embeds the structural equation modeling (SEM) to ensure the latent nature of both the consumer segment and the food lifestyle measures are properly accounted for. The analysis is applied to five European countries (United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and Sweden). We contribute to the literature by providing new insights into how food lifestyle may influence the salmon consumption behavior by highlighting the differences among food lifestyle segments in different countries. JEL Code: M310.

Consumer Intentions to Buy Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labeled Food Products: The Moderating Effects of Personality Differences

Although the current literature suggests that consumers in general have a desire to eat healthy and also like to obtain nutrition information about food products, there still exists a gap in terms of understanding how consumers utilize nutrition information. Drawing on consumer psychology literature, we examine how self-efficacy, healthy eating intentions, and perceptions about a simple front-of-pack nutrition label affect purchase intentions, and how these effects may be moderated by two information-processing-related personality traits—need for cognition and propensity to self-reference. We find that consumers’ intention to purchase front-of-pack nutrition-labeled products is positively affected by self-efficacy and label perceptions but is not directly driven by a general interest in healthy eating. We also find significant moderating effects from both personality traits considered.

Can eco-labels reduce carbon emissions? Market-wide analysis of carbon labeling and locally grown fresh apples

Despite the heightened efforts to implement eco-labeling schemes as the market-based vehicle for improving environmental quality, the overall effectiveness of eco-labels are still uncertain due to complex and sometimes unexpected market responses. In this paper, we assess the overall changes in carbon emissions resulting from two types of labeling on fresh apples, carbon labels and location designation labels (e.g., locally grown), both of which can have mixed implications for carbon emissions due to fluctuating supply chain factors. We employ an equilibrium displacement model that integrates existing estimates of differences across production systems, and our own estimates of consumer responses to labels in order to simulate the changes in prices, trade flows and estimate carbon impacts across several scenarios in the US fresh apple market. We find that both labels ultimately affect market outcomes and overall carbon emissions. With location designation labels, consumers’ preference for local products leads to a net decrease in carbon emissions during the local growing season, while the interaction of various market dynamics results in a subsequent net increase in carbon emissions during the local off-season. The interaction of a carbon label with the location label lowers the overall attractiveness of products and reduces the quantity demanded, and thus, reduces the carbon emissions in both seasons. Overall, providing the location designation label increases annual carbon emissions, whereas providing both the location designation and carbon labeling decreases annual emissions. In short, the dynamics and interdependency of labeling strategies are important to consider in the context of eco-labeling.

What If You Stop and Think About It? Nutrition Logos and Product Selection Behavior

This study explores the effect of a health involvement manipulation on food choices and how food choices are influenced by front-of-pack nutrition labels. The results show that without health involvement, choice was significantly affected by both nutrition labels and product type, but the product choice with health involvement was affected only by whether the product was selected as the healthier one in the involvement manipulation stage. Moreover, selection of the healthiest product during the manipulation stage was affected by the product type but not the front-of-pack (FOP) labels, potentially because participants relied on their own knowledge or the product perception to assess the healthiness of the product rather than the label information. The implication is that consumers seem to behave differently when pushed into a “choose healthy” state of mind, and their reliance on label information to assess product healthiness may be product and context dependent.

Comparing fish to meat: Perceived qualities by food lifestyle segments

ABSTRACT This article compares consumers’ quality perceptions (in freshness, taste, food safety, value for money, and availability) of proteins from the sea (salmon and cod) and land (chicken, pork, and beef) using intensity of consumers’ food involvement measured by food-related lifestyles (FRL) as an explaining factor. Based on an international survey of around 2000 consumers in four countries, the analysis finds that consumers with high food involvement scores rate fish higher than low involvement score consumers, often favorably to terrestrial meats. Low involved consumers perceive terrestrial meats more favorably than seafood. Seafood struggles with perceived value for money and availability compared to terrestrial meats, particularly among the low and middle involvement groups. The results indicate that low involvement consumers might not consider seafood a substitute for terrestrial meats, in contrast to higher food involvement groups.

Advertising Functional Foods: The Effects of Physical Body Size and Appeal Type on Ad Credibility and Purchase Intentions

When advertising functional foods, whether these are in solid or liquid form, marketers can choose different appeal types in combination with different endorser characteristics. In this research study, the authors examine how the credibility of such an ad and purchase intentions for the advertised product are influenced by the physical body size of the endorser and the appeal type used. Based on a 2 × 2 full factorial design, they find that in an ad for an energy drink, endorser body size has an effect on both of these dependent variables, while no differences are found between a functional and an emotional appeal.