Objective Measurement of Sustainable Consumer Behaviour in the Food Market: Applications of the Rasch Model

Dear Colleagues,

The transition toward sustainable food systems requires not only the promotion of responsible consumer behavior but also the development of rigorous tools to measure and monitor sustainability. Current research often relies on ordinal survey data, which are limited in terms of comparability, reliability, and cross-cultural validity.

This Special Issue proposes to explore the application of the Rasch model as a methodological innovation in the measurement of sustainable consumer behavior. The Rasch framework is uniquely characterized by its property of specific objectivity, meaning that comparisons between consumers are independent of the items administered, and item difficulties are independent of the sample studied. This invariance ensures that the resulting measures are objective, robust, and suitable for cross-cultural and longitudinal analyses.

The scope of this Special Issue includes: (1) developing Rasch-based scales to assess attitudes, knowledge, and practices related to sustainable food choices; (2) mapping the hierarchy of behaviors from easier to more difficult to adopt (e.g., reducing food waste, shifting dietary habits, preferring eco-labeled products); and (3) applying Rasch measurement to evaluate the effectiveness of sustainability policies, campaigns, and educational programs.

By combining sustainability studies with advanced psychometric modeling, this Special Issue aims to generate objective evidence that can support policymakers, educators, and practitioners in guiding consumer transitions toward sustainable food systems.

You can find more information on the aims and scope of our journal at the following link:

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/about

Prof. Dr. Enrico Gori
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.