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Promoting Healthy and Sustainable Food Consumption: Consumer Perception and Behavior

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Economics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 13580

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Erpeng Wang

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Guest Editor

School of Economics and Management, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
Interests: consumer behavior; food marketing; agricultural economics; choice experiments

Prof. Dr. Shijiu Yin

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Guest Editor

School of Economics, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao 276826, China
Interests: food marketing; agricultural economics; food safety and public policy

Prof. Dr. Ruifeng Liu

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Guest Editor

College of Economics and Management, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
Interests: food economics and management; consumer behavior; agricultural economics
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The link between food and consumer behavior is an important issue of widespread concern in society (Just and Gabrielyan 2016), with the food consumer playing an increasingly prominent role in shaping the food and farming system (Lusk and McCluskey 2018). Especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, food stockpiling behavior has occurred frequently in many countries (Dholakia 2020; Wang et al. 2020); moreover, online food purchases and at-home food consumption have sharply increased (Hobbs 2020). This introduced a great demand shock in the food market and threatened food security and the fragile food supply chain. Moreover, there has been growing attention given to ethical food attributes (e.g., organic/green production, animal welfare, poverty alleviation through consumption (Yin et al. 2020; Liu et al. 2020; Wang et al. 2021)), with the pandemic changing food-related consumer behavior around the world. Especially, lots of emerging economies have gradually developed specific ethical consumption systems, greatly improving global food systems overall. Transforming the global food system into one healthy and green by nature is of great significance to realizing global sustainability goals. In response, the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) is organizing a Special Issue entitled “Promoting Healthy and Sustainable Food Consumption: Consumer Perception and Behavior” to obtain a better understanding of these issues.

Papers related to the following topics will be considered; however, this list is by no means exhaustive:

COVID-19 and food consumption;
The impact of COVID-19 on food stockpiling behavior;
Organic/green food consumption;
Ethical consumption in the food market;
Consumer behavior research methods;
Culture and food value;
Sustainable agricultural products and consumption.

Dr. Erpeng Wang
Prof. Dr. Shijiu Yin
Prof. Dr. Ruifeng Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

food choice
consumer behavior
preferences
ethical consumption
food stockpiling behavior
COVID-19

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 1746 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influencing Factors and Group Differences of Urban Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Low-Carbon Agricultural Products in China

by Ning Geng, Zengjin Liu, Xibing Han and Xiaoyu Zhang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(1), 358; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010358 - 26 Dec 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2843

Abstract

Developing low-carbon agriculture has become a development goal for low-carbon economies in various countries, and consumers’ awareness and willingness to pay (WTP) for low-carbon agricultural products is an important link in achieving the sustainable development of low-carbon agriculture. The theory of planned behavior is a widely used framework to explain consumers’ food choices. Considering the intrinsic norms of consumers, their perceptions of low-carbon agricultural products, and shifts in consumer behavior, our study adds the influence of environmental awareness and consumer preferences to the theoretical framework of analysis. We choose the contingent valuing method (CVM) and use 532 consumer questionnaires in Shanghai to validate Chinese urban consumers’ WTP for low-carbon products and its influencing factors. The findings show that Chinese urban consumers have a high overall awareness of low-carbon agricultural products and, after strengthening the conceptual information of consumers, most consumers agree that low-carbon vegetables are more conducive to ecological environment protection, quality, and safety guarantees than conventional vegetables. The existing analysis showed that some variables such as bid price, behavioral attitudes, subjective norms, and consumption preferences significantly influenced consumers’ willingness to pay for low-carbon leafy greens, while the effect of the environmental awareness variable was not significant. Further research found that consumers’ WTP for low-carbon leafy greens showed significant group differences across income, gender, age, and education. Therefore, to promote the consumption of low-carbon agricultural products in China, we should attach importance to the publicity and guidance of low-carbon vegetables and strengthen the certification of low-carbon vegetable products. This study can provide policy reference for reasonably regulating and subdividing China’s low-carbon agricultural products market. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promoting Healthy and Sustainable Food Consumption: Consumer Perception and Behavior)

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13 pages, 360 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Direct and Structure Effect of Income on Nutrition Demand of Chinese Rural Residents

by Qiyan Zeng, Zhipeng He and Yuting Wang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(20), 13388; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013388 - 17 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1213

Abstract

Although a significant body of literature has analyzed the effect of income-mediated policies on nutrition, research on how income affect nutrition consumption is scant. This paper contributes to the literature by decomposing the overall income effect on rural residents’ calorie intake into the direct income effect and the structure effect by building a simple theoretical model and conducting related empirical research with an instrumental variable (IV) approach. Using nationally representative data from China, we find that the structure effect of income, represented by fat share growth induced by income, occupies a considerable proportion (38.03%) of overall income effect. Additionally, we provide evidence of an asymmetric distributional effect of income on calorie intake. In particular, the structure effect of income substantially accounts for a larger proportion in the higher quantiles of the calorie intake distribution. Our findings help better evaluate the effectiveness of the income-mediated policies from quantity and structure perspectives in a comprehensive framework. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promoting Healthy and Sustainable Food Consumption: Consumer Perception and Behavior)

17 pages, 1587 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Social Capital, Political Efficacy and Chinese Residents’ Willingness to Participate in Food Safety Governance

by Nianyu Du, Chuanmei Zhang, Jin Qin, Liangqiang Jiang, Zongshuo Yin and Mo Chen

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(20), 13147; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013147 - 13 Oct 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1861

Abstract

Residents play an important role as one of the main actors in food safety governance. To build a pattern of food safety risk co-governance, the positive and effective participation of residents is vital. This study first establishes a comprehensive analysis framework combining social capital theory and political efficacy theory. Data from a survey of 714 residents in Shandong Province, China, were analysed through structural equation modelling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to examine the causal relationship between residents’ willingness to participate and its driving factors. The results indicated that: (1) reciprocity norm, institutional trust and social engagement have significant positive effects on willingness to participate; (2) political efficacy has a partial mediating effect in the relationship between social capital and willingness to participate; (3) fsQCA findings have four solutions to achieving residents’ strong willingness to participate; reciprocity norm, institutional trust and political efficacy are the core elements that affected residents’ high willingness to participate, whereas social engagement and sociodemographic variables are the non-core variables. Therefore, we put forward suggestions for improving residents’ willingness to participate in food safety governance, including improving the appeal expression and feedback mechanism, cultivating residents’ social capital and paying attention to the superposition effect of social capital and political efficacy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promoting Healthy and Sustainable Food Consumption: Consumer Perception and Behavior)

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18 pages, 822 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Food Consumption Structure and Food Security—Through Mediating Effect Analysis of Agricultural R&D and Agricultural Investment

by Wentai Bi, Yu Song, Yang Liu, Zongze Li and Ying Zhang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12524; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912524 - 30 Sep 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1989

Abstract

Food security is the cornerstone that ensures the stable development of a country. Based on panel data of 31 provinces (including autonomous regions and municipalities) in China from 2015 to 2019, we use the mediating effect model to explore the mechanism by which food consumption structure affects food security. The results indicate that grain consumption has a significant promoting effect on food security, while plant and animal food consumption have significant inhibiting effects on food security. Furthermore, agricultural R&D and investment play mediating roles in the impact of food consumption structure on food security. Obvious differences exist in the relationship between food consumption structure and food security between urban and rural areas, as well as between Eastern, Central, and Western regions. Animal food consumption had a negative and significant impact on food security, with a stronger effect on rural residents than on urban residents. Compared with the central and western regions, grain consumption and animal food consumption in the eastern region had a stronger marginal impact on food security. This paper enriches and expands the research on influencing factors of food security from the perspective of consumer demand, which has important theoretical value and practical significance for ensuring food security. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promoting Healthy and Sustainable Food Consumption: Consumer Perception and Behavior)

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17 pages, 825 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Does a Traceability System Help to Regulate Pig Farm Households’ Veterinary Drug Use Behavior? Evidence from Pig Farms in China

by Zengjin Liu, Ning Geng and Zhuo Yu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 11879; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191911879 - 20 Sep 2022

Viewed by 1607

Abstract

In China, there is a renewed interest in traceability systems as an efficient tool to guarantee pork safety. One of the pathways through which a traceability system can benefit consumers is by easing information asymmetry. However, past literature on the traceability system in China pays more attention to theoretical analysis and less to empirical analysis. Using a large-scale survey of pig farms in China, we investigate the effects influencing farmers’ participation in the traceability system. Findings show that a traceability system can influence the safety of pork indirectly through its impacts on farmers’ production behaviors. Another important finding is that unsafe pork is a result of non-standard use of veterinary drugs, and the traceability system works well for farmers by pushing them to take stricter safety measurements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promoting Healthy and Sustainable Food Consumption: Consumer Perception and Behavior)

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17 pages, 706 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Chinese Residents’ Healthy Eating Intentions and Behaviors: Based on an Extended Health Belief Model

by Yiqin Wang, Xiaowei Wen, Ying Zhu, Yanling Xiong and Xuefan Liu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(15), 9037; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159037 - 25 Jul 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3020

Abstract

Unhealthy eating is one cause of obesity and some chronic non-communicable diseases. This study introduces self-efficacy and health consciousness to construct an extended health belief model (HBM) to examine the factors influencing healthy eating intentions and behaviors of Chinese residents and explore the moderating effect of perceived barriers and the mediating effect of healthy eating intentions. Through the survey platform “Questionnaire Star”, this study collected quantitative data from 1281 adults, and partial least squares structural equation modeling was used for confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis, importance-performance map analysis, and multi-group analysis. Results showed that perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, self-efficacy, and health consciousness had a significant positive effect on residents’ healthy eating intentions. Perceived barriers had a significant negative effect on residents’ healthy eating intentions. Healthy eating intentions had a significant positive effect on healthy eating behaviors. Perceived barriers played a significant negative moderating effect between healthy eating intentions and behaviors. Healthy eating intentions had a positive and significant mediating effect. The multi-group analysis showed that extended HBM has relative generalization ability. The extended HBM has good explanatory and predictive power for healthy diet and provides a new framework for understanding the influencing factors of individuals’ healthy eating intentions and behaviors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Promoting Healthy and Sustainable Food Consumption: Consumer Perception and Behavior)

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