How to improve consumers' environmental sustainability judgements of foods
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Authors
Author (Corporation)
Publication date
2018
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Type
01A - Journal article
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Parent work
Journal of Cleaner Production
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Volume
198
Issue / Number
Pages / Duration
564-574
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Publisher / Publishing institution
Elsevier
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Abstract
Food production and consumption account for approximately one-third of households' environmental impact. Consumers thus play a major role in the shift towards more sustainable foods and diets. An overall sustainability label or simple guidelines may enable consumers to make more environmentally friendly food choices, but whether such information-based tools improve consumers' ability to choose environmentally sustainable foods has not been empirically investigated. This study's online choice task experiment shows that eco-labels and guidelines marginally increased consumers' accuracy in selecting environmentally friendly foods. Respondents adhered, however, more to guidelines than to eco-labels and led to choices with lower environmental impact. In addition, respondents showed several misconceptions related to the environmental performance of protein products, which were resistant to both eco-labels and guidelines. These findings suggest that new, costly labels may not improve consumers' environmental judgements. Instead, addressing consumers' misconceptions and finding ways to promote environmentally sustainable food purchases is essential.
Keywords
food choices, environmental label, environmentally friendly food guidelines, consumers' environmental evaluation
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ISBN
ISSN
0959-6526
1879-1786
1879-1786
Language
English
Created during FHNW affiliation
Yes
Strategic action fields FHNW
Publication status
Published
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Peer review of the complete publication
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Citation
Lazzarini, G. A., Visschers, V., & Siegrist, M. (2018). How to improve consumers’ environmental sustainability judgements of foods. Journal of Cleaner Production, 198, 564–574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.07.033