Savouring morality. Moral satisfaction renders food of ethical origin subjectively tastier

Abstract

Past research has shown that the experience of taste can be influenced by a range of external cues, especially when they concern food's quality. The present research examined whether food's ethicality - a cue typically unrelated to quality - can also influence taste. We hypothesised that moral satisfaction with the consumption of ethical food would positively influence taste expectations, which in turn will enhance the actual taste experience. This enhanced taste experience was further hypothesised to act as a possible reward mechanism reinforcing the purchase of ethical food. The resulting ethical food → moral satisfaction → enhanced taste expectations and experience → stronger intentions to buy/willingness to pay model was validated across four studies: one large scale international survey (Study 1) and three experimental studies involving actual food consumption of different type of ethical origin - organic (Study 2), fair trade (Study 3a) and locally produced (Study 3b). Furthermore, endorsement of values relevant to the food's ethical origin moderated the effect of food's origin on moral satisfaction, suggesting that the model is primarily supported for people who endorse these values.

Ethical food choices: Examining people’s Fair Trade purchasing decisions

“…Future research should also consider the potential of competing ethical considerations in people's food choices such as choosing organic or locally/nationally/sustainably sourced products and how people weigh up these considerations with other more general determinants such as taste and price influences. Recent findings that moral satisfaction mediates the effect of ethical characteristics of food (e.g., food origin in Bratanova et al, 2015) on taste expectations should also be considered, particularly as the taste expectations and subsequent experience of foods can be expected to inform future purchasing behaviour. Finally, integrating the Prototype/Willingness Model (Gibbons, Gerrard, Blanton, & Russell, 1998), which predicts 'willingness' to perform a behaviour, with the TPB may add to the theory's predictive utility for Fair Trade purchasing given that people's food purchasing choices are often spontaneous.…”

Deliberate choices or strong motives: Exploring the mechanisms underlying the bias of organic claims on leniency judgments

“…What about claims that refer to properties unrelated to composition, such as ethical claims? These claims may include the "eco-friendly" (e.g., Sörqvist et al, 2013), "fair-trade" (e.g., Bratanova et al, 2015;Schuldt, Muller, & Schwarz, 2012), "locally produced" (e.g., Bratanova et al, 2015) and "organic" labels (e.g., Ellison, Duff, Wang, & White 2015;Lee, Shimizu, Kniffin, & Wansink, 2013;Schuldt & Hannahan, 2013;Schuldt & Schwarz, 2010). In this paper we will focus on the latter.…”

What are we eating? Consumer information requirement within a workplace canteen

“…Sales in food products that can 29 be classed socially responsible have risen steadily for the past years despite the economic downturn 30 and in the UK account for 8.5 per cent of all food purchases (Defra 2015). Consuming food that is 31 produced ethically presents an opportunity to support causes that are perceived as important 32 (Bratanova et al 2015). Many consumers have developed a collective consciousness that challenges 33 the conventional production of food (Bildtgard 2008), which also translates into food choices made 1 at work.…”