Offering organic food is a new trend in the hospitality industry seeking sustainable competitiveness. Premiums and information barriers impede continued growth in organic consumption. This study aims to explore the role of comparative advertising (CA) in organic food communication. Three empirical studies were used to verify the effect of CA vs. non-comparative advertising (NCA) on consumers’ willingness to pay a premium (WTPP) for organic food, examining how benefit appeals (health vs. environmental) and consumers’ organic skepticism affects CA. The results indicate that matching CA and health appeals increase consumers’ WTPP, while environmental appeals have no significant differences between the CA and NCA groups (Study 1). Information persuasiveness mediates the interaction between CA and benefit appeal on WTPP (Study 2). CA increases WTPP among consumers with high organic skepticism, while the interaction between CA and health appeal is only effective for low skepticism consumers (Study 3). The findings unravel and explain the mechanics of how CA works in organic products, which can help restaurants, retailers and tourist destinations advertise organic food to increase consumers’ WTPP.
PurposeFood recalls are more potentially harmful than other product recalls. This research aimed to investigate the effect of the recall strategies of food corporations on their brand image and consumers’ purchase intention.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a between-subjects experiment of 2 (corporate recall strategy: voluntary recall, mandatory recall) *3 (food recall level (severity): high, medium, low), and recruits 224 consumers involved in cereal product recall in China. The authors inductively examine the effects of voluntary and mandatory recall on consumer perception and behavior intentions in the recall process.FindingsVoluntary recall (vs. mandatory recall) will improve corporate brand responsibility image (vs. brand ability image) and consumers’ purchase intention to focal brand (vs. competitive brand and organic brand). Perceived corporate legitimacy and food safety play a mediating role. The former has a greater positive impact on brand image, and the latter has a more significant favorable influence on purchase intention. Furthermore, recall level has a moderating effect on the association between corporate recall strategy and perceived food safety, but is not significant in the effect of corporate recall strategy on perceived corporate legitimacy.Originality/valuePrevious inconsistent conclusions cannot effectively guide food corporations to manage recall strategies. This paper demonstrates the response mechanism of the recall strategy from the perspective of corporate social responsibility, which is beneficial to food safety crisis management and research.
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