Psychological Capital in Food Safety Social Co-governance

Abstract

Social co-governance of food safety is an advocacy model to deal with current global food safety risks. Food safety co-governance involves the collaboration and partnership of government, industry, and society. The success of this collaboration is dependent on the construct of positive psychological capital. This paper discusses the concept of psychological capital and its four elements of self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resiliency in line with co-governance in food safety. Accordingly, the paper proposes that great success in food safety co-governance would be realized if the government, industry, and society nurture positive psychological capital. Psychological capital can help corporates to instill organizational commitment on employees, thus promote food safety. Furthermore, positive psychological capital can help the government to appeal to the emotions of food companies and social actors to ensure self-efficacy toward food safety. The government can inspire hope by setting food safety goals and plans to achieve them, and a reward program will motivate food companies and promote self-efficacy in co-governance efforts. The government can also reinforce the efforts of companies in leveraging the elements of PsyCap in food safety, since the production of high-quality food is also dependent on the behaviors and attitudes of the workforce. Furthermore, the government can utilize social persuasion to improve the engagement of social actors in food safety regulations.

Potential Contributions of Psychological Capital to the Research Field of Marketing

“…Even to a larger context, psychological capital could influence marketing phenomena. For example, Chen and Wu (Chen and Wu, 2019) proposed that psychological capital is a foundation of food safety's social co-governance mechanisms, which incorporated and coordinate among multiple stakeholders in the society (e.g., government, business, consumers, third-parties, etc. It could also be reflected by studies that as the level of psychological capital varies across different countries and different types of employees, the level to which it is used for the establishment and functioning of different businesses also differs.…”

Development and Validation of a Questionnaire on Consumer Psychological Capital in Food Safety Social Co-governance

“…The fundamental cause of food safety problems lies in the information asymmetry between food manufacturers and consumers, which could lead to market failure ( Wu et al, 2018 ). If the government fails to address the market failure, it probably appears as a “double failure” of government public right and market private right in the process of food safety management ( Chen and Wu, 2019 ). Thus, it is critical for consumers to employ their unique advantages in food safety co-governance actively and effectively.…”

“…Moreover, consumers are not only the most immediate beneficiaries of food safety but also the most direct sufferers of unsafe food. This means they have strong incentives to address food safety issues and protect their health ( Chen and Wu, 2019 ) and to contribute to the social co-governance of food safety ( Rouvière and Caswell, 2012 ). However, consumers have been criticized for lacking consciousness to voluntarily supervise food safety issues ( Mohd Nawi and Mohd Nasir, 2014 ; Ren et al, 2015 ) and lacking knowledge of the appropriate channels for making food safety complaints ( Cheng et al, 2017 ).…”

“…Without taking advantage of psychological capital’s role in the food safety management process, co-governance alone is not sufficient ( Chen and Wu, 2019 ). Luthans and Youssef-Morgan (2004) proposed the concept of psychological capital consisting of four core components: self-efficacy, optimism, resilience, and hope within the framework of positive psychology ( Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000 ) and positive organizational behavior ( Luthans, 2002 ).…”

“…In addition, the questionnaire lacks sufficient evidence of validity, so it is not suitable for measuring consumer psychological capital in the social co-governance of food safety. Chen and Wu (2019) were the first scholars to apply the concept of psychological capital to the social co-governance of food safety. They stated that promoting consumer positive psychological capital enhanced consumer confidence and enthusiasm for participating in food safety co-governance.…”