Australian Consumers’ Preferences for Food Attributes: A Latent Profile Analysis

Abstract

Understanding consumer food preferences can provide agribusinesses with a competitive advantage through meeting consumers’ needs. Consumers’ preferences for food attributes have been extensively examined, focusing on specific aspects of attributes with specific food products. It is less clear how consumers evaluate the relative importance of the key food attributes in general. Applying the commonly adopted classification of food attributes into endogenous attributes (i.e., safety and freshness) and exogenous attributes (i.e., genetically modified (GM)-free and organic), the relative importance of these attributes for consumers was investigated. Furthermore, the heterogeneity of preferences was explored to identify distinct subgroups of consumers who may differ in valuing various food attributes. An online survey of 489 city dwellers in Australia revealed that the endogenous attributes were regarded as the most important in an order of safety and freshness. The exogenous attributes were rated as much less important. Three profiles with distinctive preferences for food attributes were identified: Not Fussy (12% of participants), Quality First (49%) and Choosy (39%). The findings suggest that consumers value the importance of various food attributes in a hierarchical order, and there is significant heterogeneity in consumers’ food preference. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of food policy and agribusiness decision-making.

Consumer Trust in Food and the Food System: A Critical Review

“…sents prestige, and an individual's social status and wealth [12,13] Food safety can considered as an attribute of food quality, and it refers to the safe handling and sto food [14,15]. Safe foods are free from harmful biological, chemical, or physical age Growth in income and awareness of the health, social, and environmental quences of food choices has increased global demand for diverse, safe, and premium with specific attributes (e.g., organic, eco-friendly, nutritious) [16][17][18][19][20]. Consumer monly use direct visual and physical cues related to individual food items (e.g., firmness, size, and price) when assessing food quality.…”

“…Growth in income and awareness of the health, social, and environmental consequences of food choices has increased global demand for diverse, safe, and premium foods with specific attributes (e.g., organic, eco-friendly, nutritious) [16][17][18][19][20]. Consumers commonly use direct visual and physical cues related to individual food items (e.g., colour, firmness, size, and price) when assessing food quality.…”

A Novel Method for Food Market Regulation by Emotional Tendencies Predictions from Food Reviews Based on Blockchain and SAEs

“…More and more researchers have realized this [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. For example, Zhang et al [ 34 ] conducted an online survey for dwellers in 489 cities in Australia. The results showed that consumers value various food attributes arranged in a hierarchical order, and there is significant heterogeneity in consumers’ food preferences.…”

Trust and consumer confidence in the safety of dairy products in China

“…Second, food safety is regarded as non-negotiable and the most important attribute (Jin et al. , 2019; Zhang and Jakku, 2020; Zhang et al. , 2021), and the moderate-to-low level of trust of every actor requires collaboration and the creation of synergy with trust (Dong et al., 2020).…”

“…Thus, future research on food consumption should be conducted in a timely manner to elaborate its impact on the confidence and trust of consumers. Second, food safety is regarded as non-negotiable and the most important attribute (Jin et al, 2019;Zhang and Jakku, 2020;Zhang et al, 2021), and the moderate-to-low level of trust of every actor requires collaboration and the creation of synergy with trust (Dong et al, 2020). Therefore, a food traceability system maybe a possible solution (Jin et al, 2017;Dang and Tran, 2020).…”