Autonomic emotional responses to food: Private label brands versus National Brands

Abstract

Private label brands (PLB) have been increasing both perceived quality and consumer acceptance in the last decades, which has compelled national brands (NBs) to invest in maintaining consumer confidence and preference. Recent economic crisis led consumers to become more price sensitive and more worried about cutting on daily needs, such as food consumption. However, taste is still one of the most important factor of decision for consumers regarding food products. Despite such importance of taste in decision‐making, most research on consumer senses still relies on traditional methods of surveying consumers, which are unable to measure the consumers' autonomic emotional reactions. The current paper uses a psychophysiological method to measure emotional arousal–electrodermal activity (EDA) and a self‐assessment manikin to measure pleasure. Emotions are then tested to assess their influence on perceived quality and willingness to buy (WTB). Findings show that NB are still perceived by consumers as superior, but consumers' WTB is not higher for NB. These results show that consumers' decisions are not always in favor of the product which is perceived to have a better quality which suggests that the “quality gap” is fading and the “branding gap” is gaining momentum.

Did disruptive events affect the purchase of private label food products?

“…Effective communication strategies addressing safety measures, ethical practices, and public health support have become pivotal. This shift is crucial in establishing trust and resonating with the sentiments of post-COVID consumers, highlighting the evolving dynamics of consumer expectations and the integral role of transparent communication in shaping their choices (Rita et al, 2021;Tsai and Wang, 2023).…”

“…Also, Pinto et al (2022) suggest future studies on factors such as third-party recommendations, the current economic situation, PL packaging, and also comparative studies with other sustainable brands in Portugal or expanding the research to other countries where sustainable PLs are available. Rita et al (2021) emphasized the improvement of PL brands in terms of perceived quality and consumer acceptance, leading NBs to invest in maintaining consumer trust and preference. The recent economic crisis has increased consumer price-sensitivity and concern about their daily needs, including food consumption (Rita et al, 2021).…”

“…Rita et al (2021) emphasized the improvement of PL brands in terms of perceived quality and consumer acceptance, leading NBs to invest in maintaining consumer trust and preference. The recent economic crisis has increased consumer price-sensitivity and concern about their daily needs, including food consumption (Rita et al, 2021). The authors also suggest that future research should incorporate physiological measures in addition to the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) measure of valence (Rita et al, 2021).…”

“…Despite these valuable insights, there remains an unexplored area with regard to how these shifts convert into different behavioural patterns in PL food product purchases. Differently, while Dimitrieska et al (2017), Kaswengi and Diallo (2015), and Rita et al (2021) offer foundational knowledge about the dynamics of PL products and evolving market perceptions, they fall short of addressing the current gap. The existing research, although informative and insightful, has not specifically delved into the effects of disruptive events, specifically the COVID-19 pandemic, on consumer behaviour and choices regarding PL food products.…”

Locals versus foreigners’ emotion-motivational responses towards traditional and non-traditional food

“…Self-reported measures can be valuable tools for capturing feelings, but they are also at a disadvantage vis-à-vis objective indicators measuring directly observed autonomic responses. While previous studies explored how food affects the autonomic nervous system of consumers (Esteves et al , 2010; Rita et al , 2021), few studies have, to the best of the authors' knowledge, evaluated the autonomic responses of consumers to traditional food. Consequently, the current study fills this research gap by exploring how local and foreign consumers respond to traditional food versus nontraditional food, including psychophysiological measures of emotion.…”