Trust and consumer confidence in the safety of dairy products in China
ISSN: 0007-070X
Article publication date: 21 December 2021
Issue publication date: 1 November 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the degree of Chinese consumers' trust and confidence in the Chinese dairy products supply chain and the relationships between trust and overall confidence in dairy products safety and quality.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collected data from 1,278 respondents by field survey from five provinces of China. The data were analyzed using ordered logit model.
Findings
This study shows the following results: (1) Chinese consumer confidence in domestic dairy products and trust in actors of the dairy chain are at a moderate-to-low level. (2) Government regulators are considered to take the most responsibility, with both an optimism-enhancing and a pessimism-reducing effect (the former effect is greater), while perceived trust in dairy farmers and retailers has little effect. (3) Perceived care has both an optimism-enhancing and a pessimism-reducing effect, and the former effect is stronger. Competence and openness have an optimism-enhancing effect and a pessimism-reducing effect, respectively. (4) The importance of the three dimensions of trust related to optimism-increasing and pessimism-reduction is limited, except in the case of government regulators.
Originality/value
This study contributes to a better understanding of consumer trust in food safety and also help demonstrate to the actors and institutions involved in the dairy supply chain the best way to improve the performance of their duties to meet the consumers' needs for safe and quality dairy products.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank research assistants Haiyue Guo, Yue Jin, Rao Yuan, Zhanyi Shi, Ye Jiang, Xuwen Gao, Yu Jiang and Changhua Qian for their helpful support in data collection, and thank Yi Huang for her contributions to manuscript revision.
Funding: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72003175), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (lzujbky-2020-24; lzujbky-2021-kb13) and Chinese Academy of Engineering (2021-HZ-5, 2021-XBZD-8).
Declaration of interests: The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Citation
Zhang, Y., Guan, L. and Jin, S. (2022), "Trust and consumer confidence in the safety of dairy products in China", British Food Journal, Vol. 124 No. 11, pp. 3644-3665. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-05-2021-0508
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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