Sweet taste of prosocial status signaling: When eating organic foods makes you happy and hopeful

Abstract

As the current research suggests that there are links between prosocial acts and status signaling (including sustainable consumer choices), we empirically study (with three experiments) whether food consumers go green to be seen. First, we examine how activating a motive for status influences prosocial organic food preferences. Then, we examine how the social visibility of the choice (private vs. public) affects these preferences. We found that when consumers' desire for status was elicited, they preferred organic food products significantly over their nonorganic counterparts; making the choice situation visible created the same effect. Finally, we go beyond consumers' evaluative and behavioral domains that have typically been addressed to investigate whether this (nonconscious) "going green to be seen" effect is also evident at the level of more physiologically-driven food responses. Indeed, status motives and reputational concerns created an improved senso-emotional experience of organic food. Specifically, when consumers were led to believe that they have to share their organic food taste experiences with others, an elevation could be detected not only in the pleasantness ratings but also in how joyful and hopeful they felt after eating a food sample. We claim that the reason for this is that a tendency to favor organic foods can be viewed as a costly signaling trait, leading to flaunting about one's prosocial tendencies. According to these findings, highlighting socially disapproved consumption motives, such as reputation management, may be an effective way to increase the relatively low sales of organic foods and thereby promote sustainable consumer behavior.

Organic Consumer Choices for Nutrient Labels on Dried Strawberries among Different Health Attitude Segments in Norway, Romania, and Turkey

“…One possible explanation is that the higher maturity and extent of the organic market in Norway, where organic products are available in any typical supermarket, may result in a broader range of organic consumers who are not primarily driven by health, natural, or ecological values. Specifically, previous research indicates a large variation in consumer motives for choosing organic products, including the conviction of a better taste, food safety, naturalness, quality assurance, and status signaling [63,[81][82][83][84]. Interestingly, recent research has also highlighted how internal versus external personal health locus of control (i.e., the degree to which people believe that they have control over their health, as opposed to external forces beyond their control (source: Wikipedia)) moderates organic food intake [85].…”

A Comparison of Motivational Patterns in Sustainable Food Consumption between Pakistan and Finland: Duties or Self-Reliance?

“…It suggests that regardless of the culture, consumers are able to link various qualities such as hedonism, healthiness, reputation, environmental friendliness, and animal welfare to sustainable product choices (cf. Puska, Kurki, L€ ahdesm€ aki, Siltaoja, & Luomala, 2018;Rahman, 2019). This positive development process could be cultivated by government authorities, media, and celebrities worldwide (Lundahl, 2017).…”

Alimentos orgânicos funcionais: um estudo da percepção do consumidor

“…Por sua vez, o CP2 contabilizou 15,81% da variância e relacionou-se positivamente com um termo emocional positivo ('prazeroso'). -ZAMORA et al, 2014;PUSKA et al, 2018). Puska et al (2018) encontraram que consumidores ficavam de melhor humor ao optar por um alimento prósocial, como o orgânico, uma vez que o alimento escolhido pelos mesmos era benéfico para a sociedade e para o meio ambiente.…”

“…-ZAMORA et al, 2014;PUSKA et al, 2018). Puska et al (2018) encontraram que consumidores ficavam de melhor humor ao optar por um alimento prósocial, como o orgânico, uma vez que o alimento escolhido pelos mesmos era benéfico para a sociedade e para o meio ambiente. Adicionalmente, os autores encontraram que optar por alimentos orgânicos deixava os consumidores mais felizes tendo em vista expectativas de reputação positiva (PUSKA et al, 2018).…”

“…Puska et al (2018) encontraram que consumidores ficavam de melhor humor ao optar por um alimento prósocial, como o orgânico, uma vez que o alimento escolhido pelos mesmos era benéfico para a sociedade e para o meio ambiente. Adicionalmente, os autores encontraram que optar por alimentos orgânicos deixava os consumidores mais felizes tendo em vista expectativas de reputação positiva (PUSKA et al, 2018). Adicionalmente, o estudo de como a comunicação de atributos de produção por meio do uso de selos e embalagens contribui para o conhecimento do consumidor pode ser interessante para melhor explorar essa área de pesquisa.…”