Search Results (293)

Background/Objectives: Healthy Food Corners (HFCs) are zones in Korean convenience stores meant to promote healthier choices, yet how consumers respond to them remains unclear. Drawing on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework, this study examined consumer awareness and the perceived necessity of HFCs, identified preferences for their spatial and visual design, and exploratorily tested whether perceived necessity links awareness to healthy-food purchase intention. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey of 409 convenience store users aged 14–59 years in the Seoul metropolitan area was analyzed using hierarchical regression and bootstrapping mediation. Results: A descriptive contrast was observed between awareness and perceived necessity: awareness of the HFC was low (three-item composite M = 2.90 ± 1.66), whereas perceived necessity was substantially higher (M = 4.86 ± 1.25), indicating that consumers valued the concept even with limited prior exposure. Consumers preferred HFCs in ready-to-eat refrigerator sections, with clear zoning labels, horizontal grouping, green color schemes, and eye-level placement, and these preferences differed by age. In an exploratory mediation analysis, awareness predicted perceived necessity, which in turn strongly predicted purchase intention; the indirect effect was significant (0.188, 95% CI [0.128, 0.251]) while the direct effect was non-significant, a pattern consistent with full mediation. Because perceived necessity was assessed with a single item, this pathway is interpreted cautiously. Purchase intention was self-reported rather than behaviorally assessed. Conclusions: Overall, the findings suggest that HFCs may function as distinct, strategically positioned spatial nudges; however, design recommendations are based on consumer-stated preferences and require confirmation through behavioral research. The results have implications for food environment policy in Korea, with the caveat that generalizability to other countries and retail systems warrants caution. Full article

Understanding the association between supermarket environments and customer satisfaction and loyalty is important for food retailers. Based on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) model, this study examined the associations of store design, price fairness, and product variety with customer satisfaction and purchase loyalty among consumers of fast-moving consumer goods in supermarkets. Using a quantitative cross-sectional design, questionnaire data were collected from 367 supermarket customers in the Antofagasta region of Chile through non-probability sampling and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results of the study showed that store design (β = 0.357), price fairness (β = 0.447) and product variety (β = 0.260) were positively associated with customer satisfaction, with price fairness being the strongest environmental antecedent, while customer satisfaction showed a strong positive association with purchase loyalty (β = 0.751; p < 0.001) and statistically mediated the associations of store design (β = 0.268), price fairness (β = 0.336) and product variety (β = 0.195) on purchase loyalty; in addition, the R² values of the model explained 51.6% of the variance in customer satisfaction and 56.3% in purchase loyalty. These findings refine the application of the SOR model in supermarket retail by showing that environmental stimuli differ in their relative explanatory strength and that customer satisfaction operates as the central mediating mechanism linking these stimuli to purchase loyalty. Full article

Food is always at risk of becoming waste, with household refrigerator practices either slowing or hastening this process. While household food waste has received growing scholarly attention, the interplay of human behavior, refrigerator use, and packaging (HRP) remains underexplored, as research typically examines these elements in isolation rather than their everyday entanglement. To address this gap, this study conceptualizes HRP as a co-constitutive design system and integrates a scoping literature review with qualitative fieldwork in 24 Swedish and international households. Photo-elicitation was used to document real refrigerator organization and storage conditions, while semi-structured interviews (n = 12) captured participants’ routines, decision-making, and interpretations of stored food and packaging. The empirical material was analyzed using thematic analysis to identify recurring patterns in domestic food storage practices. The analysis reveals two key findings: (1) the refrigerator must be recognized as a critical contextual and ethical factor in both packaging design and domestic food waste studies; and (2) packaging’s communicative functions often collapse after purchase, limiting its ability to guide storage, visibility, and timely consumption. By framing HRP as dynamically interlinked, the study introduces a new analytical lens on household food waste and calls for sustainable design strategies that better support waste-reducing practices. Full article

A persistent obstacle to sustainable food consumption is that people intend to buy responsibly more often than they actually do. This study builds on a theory of planned behavior (TPB) model extended in two directions. It traces attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control back to organic food attributes and health consciousness, and it carries intention through to purchasing behavior while testing whether trust moderates that final step. We fitted it to survey responses from 516 Chinese office workers using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Intrinsic attributes, extrinsic attributes, and health consciousness were positively associated with attitude and perceived behavioral control, but none was significantly associated with subjective norm. Together, the three cognitions accounted for 43.1% of the variance in purchase intention. Both purchase intention and perceived behavioral control significantly predicted purchasing behavior. Trust had a positive direct association with purchasing behavior and positively moderated its relationship with purchase intention. The simple slope at high trust was about 2.43 times the slope at low trust. Credible certification, transparent supply chains, and visible organic food consumption may support purchasing. Full article

Promoting consumers’ organic food purchases is an important way to drive the green transformation of the demand side of food consumption and achieve sustainable development. This study, through two studies, examines the interactive effects and psychological mechanisms of different types of AI shopping assistants (analytic AI vs. empathic AI) and algorithmic recommendation cues (item-referent cues vs. user-referent cues) on consumers’ organic food purchase intention. The findings indicate that the two have an interaction effect, with analytic AI combined with item-referent cues being more effective, while empathic AI matched with user-referent cues is more effective. Further analysis revealed that perceived information validity and green trust each play a mediating role, forming a chain mediation path. Specifically, perceived information validity positively influences green trust, and green trust further positively influences purchase intention. This work reveals the matching mechanism between AI source characteristics and algorithmic recommendation cues, expands the application of Cue Utilization Theory and Signaling Theory in AI-driven organic food consumption contexts, and provides practical insights for companies to develop differentiated AI assistant configurations, recommendation information design, and green trust cultivation strategies. Full article

As the global agri-food system faces escalating climate-related challenges, developing localized low-carbon short food supply chains (SFSCs) has become a vital strategy for sustainable agriculture. To elucidate the psychological drivers of green consumer behavior within this context, this study integrates the Stimulus–Organism–Behavior–Consequence (SOBC) framework with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The aim is to investigate the continuous purchase intentions of Taiwanese consumers for organic cocoa. Data collected via an online survey from 377 consumers with prior cocoa consumption experience were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that personal attitudes and perceived behavioral control positively drive consumption intentions, whereas subjective norms do not. This suggests that consumption behaviors rely on substantive product evaluation rather than social pressures. Additionally, green product attributes and environmental values significantly enhance TPB constructs. Importantly, consumption intentions translate positively into perceived consumer effectiveness and continuous purchase intentions. By elucidating the psychological mechanisms underlying sustainable food choices, this study highlights the value of Taiwan’s “Tree-to-Bar” model. Practically, the findings highlight potential implications for policymakers and agribusinesses regarding how environmental attributes are communicated through front-of-pack (FOP) labels that emphasize local production and low-carbon mileage. Such approaches may help make environmental information more accessible to consumers, although their effectiveness should be evaluated in future research. Full article

This study explores the behavioral intersection of nutritional health and environmental literacy among pre-service teachers within the national higher education context. Utilizing the Sustainable Healthy Diet Index (SHED Index) for the first time in Croatia, this research systematically examines the dietary habits, lifestyle choices, and socio-cultural patterns of future educators (N = 164) at the University of Split. The survey instrument evaluated the core SHED domains, Healthy Eating (HE) and Sustainable Eating (SE), alongside supplementary indicators monitoring food logistics, hydration, and waste management. Descriptive analysis revealed moderately high standardized overall SHED scores (M = 62.86), aligning with the original normative distribution. Notably, students achieved significantly higher descriptive sub-scores in the HE domain (M = 24.68) than in the SE domain (M = 18.06). Although domestic food consumption and circular recycling practices were well integrated, critical biospheric behaviors—such as reducing animal protein, consuming legumes, purchasing organic food, and composting—remain limited by cultural resistance and municipal infrastructure deficits. Furthermore, an independent t-test indicated no significant differentiation across study levels, highlighting a potential institutional stagnation throughout the five-year teacher education program. Regression analysis demonstrated that sustainable dietary choices appear to be strongly anchored in personal health concerns rather than biospheric altruism, with healthy eating emerging as the single strongest explanatory factor for of sustainable behavior. These findings indicate that to cultivate authentic ecological literacy in the future teaching workforce, higher education curricula require a systemic redesign that explicitly links sustainability to personal well-being through localized, experiential learning. Full article

Information asymmetry in the unobservable sustainability attributes of food products, together with widespread consumer scepticism toward unverifiable green claims, continues to constrain the translation of pro-environmental attitudes into actual purchases. Blockchain technology has been positioned as a structural response to this asymmetry because its tamper-evident and independently verifiable records lower the cost of substantiating credence claims. However, the bulk of the consumer-facing evidence has examined blockchain as an object of adoption rather than as a conduit of information whose quality determines its persuasive force. Drawing on Signalling Theory within a Stimulus–Organism–Response framework, this study advances and tests a model in which blockchain-enabled information quality (stimulus) influences sustainable purchase decision-making (response) through perceived credibility (organism), with consumer trust serving as a boundary condition on the stimulus-to-organism path. A cross-sectional survey of 412 agri-food consumers was analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling to test direct, mediated, moderated, and conditional indirect effects. The contributions are threefold: blockchain is re-specified as an information signal whose quality, rather than the technology itself, drives downstream sustainability behaviour; perceived credibility is empirically isolated as the psychological mechanism that carries that effect; and message-level credibility is analytically separated from dispositional trust, addressing a recurring conflation in the digital transparency literature. Full article

This study examined the influence of social media content and online member group support on the environmental attitudes and green self-identity of organic food consumers in Ecuador, Peru, and Chile. Based on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) framework, data were collected from 766 consumers in Ecuador (n = 310), Peru (n = 259), and Chile (n = 197) through an online survey, the participants were adults from Ecuador, Peru, and Chile with different educational backgrounds who had purchased or consumed organic products during the month preceding the survey. The proposed model was assessed using partial least-squares structural equation modeling. The results revealed that both social media content and online member group support positively influenced environmental attitudes, while environmental attitudes significantly strengthened green self-identity, which in turn positively affected purchasing behavior of organic products. Although some relationships varied across countries, the mediating effects of environmental attitudes were consistently supported. Furthermore, the Measurement Invariance of Composite Models procedure established compositional invariance for all constructs across the three country pairs, and multigroup analysis did not identify significant differences in structural relationships between Ecuador and Peru or between Ecuador and Chile. These findings confirm the transnational robustness of the proposed framework, providing valuable insights into how digital social environments influence environmental attitudes, strengthen ecological self-identity, and promote the purchase of organic foods. Full article

Ensuring sustainable management of water, energy, and food (WEF) resources requires governance frameworks capable of addressing cross-sectoral interdependencies and policy fragmentation. This study evaluates the performance and coherence of national water, energy, and agricultural policies in Mali, South Africa, Malawi, and Tanzania, with a focus on their contribution to WEF nexus integration and energy transition pathways. A mixed-methods approach is applied, combining qualitative policy analysis, stakeholder consultations (n = 52), and a composite policy coherence index to assess cross-sectoral policy alignment across three river basins: the Bani River Basin (Mali), the Songwe River Basin (Malawi–Tanzania), and the Inkomati–Usuthu Water Management Area (South Africa). The results indicate that key water policy dimensions such as conservation, pollution control, and stakeholder participation demonstrate high performance (mean = 1.0) and strong coherence (SD = 0.0–0.1) across all countries. However, these values primarily reflect the presence of policy instruments rather than their effective implementation. Stakeholder evidence highlights persistent gaps in enforcement, coordination, and institutional capacity. In the energy sector, core infrastructure and participation policies exhibit high performance (mean = 1.0; SD = 0.0), while critical market instruments—including feed-in tariffs (FITs) and power purchase agreements (PPAs)—show moderate performance (mean = 0.6–0.8) and high variability (SD = 0.4–0.5), indicating regulatory inconsistency. In the agricultural sector, economic incentives achieve high performance (mean = 1.0; SD = 0.0), whereas sustainable practices such as agroecology, crop rotation, and organic fertilization remain weakly integrated (mean = 0.1–0.4; SD up to 0.5). Overall, the findings reveal that WEF nexus governance is characterized by strong structural policy alignment (mean = 0.8–1.0) but limited functional integration, reflecting a gap between policy design coherence and implementation effectiveness. Strengthening regulatory frameworks, improving cross-sectoral coordination, and enhancing investment mechanisms are critical for advancing resource efficiency and accelerating energy transition. The study provides a reproducible framework for assessing policy coherence and offers policy-relevant insights for integrated resource governance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Full article

Agriculture plays a fundamental role in ensuring global food security in the context of a growing population; however, it is also responsible for the substantial consumption of natural resources and greenhouse gas emissions. In this context, the adoption of sustainable practices represents a key strategy to improve agri-food supply chains, including the citrus sector. This study applies the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol to conduct a systematic review aimed at assessing the economic value generated by environmental, social, and economic sustainability practices along the citrus supply chain. The analysis focuses in particular on the role of sustainability certifications, examining both their potential benefits and the constraints associated with their adoption for producers and markets. Positioned at the beginning of the supply chain, producers play a pivotal role in the adoption of sustainable practices, whereas consumers, at the end, are instrumental in assigning market value to sustainability attributes through their purchasing decisions. The results highlight that, although consumer interest in ethical and environmentally friendly citrus products is increasing, this demand is often constrained by the lack of clear, standardized, and easily interpretable sustainability indicators. The review also reveals a significant imbalance in the existing literature, with economic assessments predominantly focused on environmental and production-related outcomes, while the economic value generated by social sustainability practices remains largely unexplored. Moreover, the review emphasizes the strategic role of policymakers in fostering sustainable transitions by providing economic incentives and facilitating access to finance, particularly for smallholders. Overall, the findings suggest that sustainability can generate economic value in the citrus supply chain; however, its effectiveness strongly depends on market recognition, certification credibility, supply chain organization, and institutional support. Full article

Generation Z consumers are reshaping food consumption patterns in urban digital environments, particularly in restaurant contexts characterized by high choice complexity and uncertainty. In Mexico, the evolution of the restaurant industry has intensified the need to understand how digital cues shape consumer food choices. Addressing this gap, this study examines how Social Media Marketing (SMM), Social Media electronic Word of Mouth (Social Media eWOM), and Social Media Influencers (SMIs) shape food consumption intention among Generation Z in Mexico City. Grounded in the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) model and integrating the attitudinal foundations of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study analyzes how these digital factors impact food consumption intention (operationalized as restaurant purchase intention) through the mediating psychological mechanism of Consumer Brand Engagement (CBE). A quantitative, non-experimental design was employed using a sample of 406 respondents, and data were analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results indicate that the model explains 73.6% of the variance in food consumption intention. SMM emerged as the strongest direct predictor, followed by Social Media eWOM and SMIs. Crucially, CBE mediates only the relationship between influencers and consumption intention. Conversely, both SMM and Social Media eWOM exert direct effects that bypass affective engagement. These findings highlight the role of digital ecosystems as cognitive proxies in restaurant selection, providing actionable insights for restaurant SMEs to optimize digital strategies and enhance economic resilience. They also suggest potential implications for healthier and more sustainable urban food environments. Full article

Green prepared dishes are an emerging food-consumption format that links convenience, food safety, and sustainable consumption. In this study, “green” denotes a sustainability-oriented product profile involving food-safety assurance, resource-conscious packaging or sourcing, and waste-reduction potential, rather than formal organic certification. However, existing studies have mainly relied on linear behavioral models and have paid limited attention to nonlinear and asymmetric consumer decision mechanisms. This study integrates the stimulus–organism–response framework with explainable machine learning to predict consumers’ sustainable purchase intention toward green prepared dishes. Based on 805 valid questionnaires collected in Jilin Province, China, predictors were organized into three dimensions: environmental and health cognition, socioeconomic and infrastructural conditions, and sustainable behavioral propensity. The sample represents a regional online consumer profile in Jilin Province rather than a national probability sample. Six classifiers were trained using SMOTE–Tomek resampling and Optuna-based hyperparameter optimization. XGBoost achieved the best predictive performance, with an F1-score of 0.894, an AUC of 0.934, and an MCC of 0.702. Unlike conventional black-box machine learning, the SHAP-based interpretation translated ensemble predictions into transparent feature-level and case-level explanations. Accordingly, the model interpretations are framed as predictive associations rather than causal mechanisms. The study reveals an asymmetric decision pattern in which core behavioral willingness functions as a non-compensatory barrier, while channel convenience, delivery efficiency, and after-sales support facilitate purchase intention among consumers who already show high behavioral readiness. The findings suggest that green prepared-dish strategies should prioritize trust-based advocacy and word-of-mouth, reliable channel design, low-risk trial experiences, and collaborative food-safety governance rather than relying only on short-term traffic acquisition. Full article

South Korea is a highly import-dependent food economy and therefore offers a useful case for examining how an integrated national food control system can be built under trade openness, limited domestic agricultural capacity and changing consumer risk perceptions. This article presents a structured narrative review, rather than a causal impact evaluation, of South Korea’s transition from multi-agency food safety regulation toward an integrated, risk-based food control system. The review is organized through the FAO/WHO national food control system framework and maps Korean legal, institutional and operational evidence onto six analytical dimensions: legal foundations, institutional coordination, risk-based official controls, import supervision, traceability and recall, and risk communication. Examples of embedded risk-analysis principles include the Positive List System for pesticide residues with a default limit of 0.01 mg/kg for substances without a Korean MRL, inspection orders and risk-ranked import controls, barcode-linked recall blocking through the Hazardous Food Sales Prevention System, and public disclosure of unsafe directly purchased overseas products. Quantitative evidence is used descriptively: Korea’s agricultural and food imports reached USD 45.3 billion in 2024, hepatitis A notifications fell from 17,598 in 2019 to 3989 in 2020 after the salted-clam outbreak, and MFDS reported that 12 of 544 overseas direct-purchase products tested in the first half of 2020 contained restricted substances. These indicators suggest improvements in coordination and crisis response capacity, but they do not prove that institutional integration alone reduced foodborne disease incidence. The review finds that South Korea’s model is strongest in institutional consolidation, import-oriented technical standards and digital recall communication, while key challenges remain in small-business compliance burden, scientific independence, data transparency, cross-border e-commerce and novel foods such as cell-cultured food ingredients. Full article

Greenwashing in food marketing undermines consumer trust and impedes Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12). While prior research has established linkages between greenwashing perception, green skepticism, and purchase intention, no publicly deployed decision support tool has been developed for practitioner use. This study applies Design Science Research (DSR) methodology to translate validated behavioral models into a deployable decision support system rather than re-testing established relationships. We present the development, deployment, and evaluation of the Greenwashing Advertising Message Assessment (GWAMA), a web-based DSR artifact grounded in a validated Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) structural equation model. GWAMA integrates factor-loading-weighted composite scoring with SEM-derived parameters to generate real-time greenwashing risk diagnostics for food advertising messages. Usability was evaluated with 150 Thai food industry professionals using a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) instrument applied to the live system. Results provide indicative evidence of stakeholder acceptance, with high perceived usefulness, ease of use, and intention to use. This study contributes by demonstrating how validated behavioral models can be translated into a publicly deployable decision support artifact, with practical implications for sustainable marketing governance and SDG 12 implementation in emerging economies. Full article