Consumers’ Perception of Food Product Craftsmanship

Consumers’ Perception of Food Product Craftsmanship

Consumers’ perception of food product craftsmanship explores how individuals define and evaluate craft foods. The study reviews literature on consumer attitudes and behaviors towards craft food products, highlighting the confusion surrounding the term 'craft' in the food industry. Key themes include the impact of sensory experiences, local identity, and self-identity on consumer choices. This research is essential for food marketers and policymakers aiming to understand consumer preferences and combat craftwashing. It provides insights into the motivations behind purchasing craft foods, making it valuable for stakeholders in the food sector.

Key Points

  • Examines consumer attitudes towards craft food products and their definitions.
  • Analyzes the influence of sensory experiences on food choices.
  • Discusses the role of local identity in consumer perceptions of craftsmanship.
  • Explores how self-identity affects purchasing behavior for craft foods.
,
  • Nethmini Wickramasinghe
336
/ 11
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Food Quality and Preference
journal homepage:
www.elsevier.com/locate/foodqual
Consumers’ perception of food product craftsmanship: A review of evidence
Sergio Rivaroli
⁎
, Beatrice Baldi, Roberta Spadoni
Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin G. 50, 40127 Bologna, Italy
ARTICLE INFO
Keywords:
Food and beverage
Craft foods
Consumers
Attitudes
Behaviour
Alphabet Theory
ABSTRACT
The understanding of what the consumer considers as craftsmanship is a sensitive question in the food sector.
Despite food label regulations on this issue having undergone partial harmonisation, revealing what the con-
sumer perceives as a craft food is a feat that has yet to be achieved. Drawing upon a review of literature in the
field of consumer research, this investigation addresses this knowledge gap. In the light of the Alphabet Theory
framework, the review offers a systematic overview of the motives affecting individuals’ perception of food
product craftsmanship, as well as of the key factors affecting consumer behaviour towards craft foods. The
findings provide useful insight to add to the body of extant literature and to discuss the possible directions of
research. Moreover, the results can also have relevant importance to support legislators in designing appropriate
regulations on craft foods.
1. Introduction
The term “craft” is becoming increasingly popular along the food
aisles of supermarkets, in restaurants and bars, and is being aptly used
by marketers to differentiate their products. Cues provided by the brand
are fundamental in the creation of the consumer’s judgement of the
quality of products (
Rao & Monroe, 1988). As pointed out by the School
of Artisan Food (2018)
, to now “there is no single definition of artisan
food”. Thus, the profuse use of the term “craft” and the disconnection
between consumer and industry definitions of craft food products, in-
cluding craft drinks, (referred to here as “CFPs”), is leading to much
confusion over the term, and to a dilution of its distinctive character.
During the past decade, regulation policies on CFPs have received
great attention. This rising interest stems from the intention to help
consumers make a conscious choice, as well as to preserve small-scale
production and processing of high-quality traditional CFPs from the so-
called “craftwashing” phenomenon. This phenomenon relies on the use
of deceptive marketing practices by industrial firms in the food and
beverage sector that introduce craft-like brands. The craftwashing
strategy is not applied only in the beer sector (
Howard, 2018); many are
the fast-food chains that have tried to ride the wave of the “craft” trend
in order to increase their sales and attract more consumers by labelling
new products as “hand-crafted” (e.g., McDonald’s launched an “artisan
grilled chicken”; Domino’s released “Artisan Pizza”; PepsiCo released
Kaleb’s Cola, a “craft soda” sold in glass bottle with the notation “Honor
in Craft”; Grom, an Italian ice cream chain, was banned from using the
term “artisanal” to label its products).
In addition, the adoption of regulation policies on CFPs are com-
mitted to strengthening the local economy, especially in rural areas.
One problem is that, besides the lack of a clear definition of what CFPs
are, to date, there is no international harmonisation of norms regarding
it. This leads to questioning whether consumers really understand what
they are buying when they choose to purchase CFPs. With regards to
European countries, the “patchwork character” of EC law about the use
of the term “craft” can produce (un)intended non-conformities with the
current law on food-labelling (i.e.
Regulation (EU) No/1169, 2011 –
Article 7, “Fair information practices”), and this goes to the detriment
of both craftsmen and consumers. Referring to specific EU countries,
Italy was the first to have recently promulgated a law to define the
concept of “craft beer” (i.e.
L 154/2016 – Article 35, “Denomination of
craft beer”), identifying which aspects of the production process are
required to produce craft beer. The autonomous Spanish region of
Galicia has proposed a legal definition of “artisan food ” centred on the
prohibition of some ingredients during the production process
(
Commission & Decree, 2018). In 2015, the Food Safety Authority of
Ireland lay down rules on the use of the term “artisan” or “artisanal” or
similar terms in advertising of foods which meet specific criteria (
Food
Safety Authority of Ireland, 2016
). Belgian authorities in 2017 adopted
guidelines on the use of the term “artisanal”, identifying as criteria for
labelling foods as “artisanal” the nature or quality of the ingredients,
the production process, and the production at a small scale (
SPF
Economie, 2017
). Moving out of Europe, in the United States, the lack
of Food and Drug Administration regulation of the term “craft” or
“artisanal” (
USFDA, 2017), may induce a misalignment of the concept
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2019.103796
Received 30 May 2019; Received in revised form 10 September 2019; Accepted 12 September 2019
⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address:
sergio.rivaroli@unibo.it (S. Rivaroli).
Food Quality and Preference 79 (2020) 103796
Available online 16 September 2019
0950-3293/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
T
of the “craft” between consumers and producers, thus leading to con-
fusion over what is and is not a CFP. As far as the Southeast Asian
region of Asia, which includes 11 countries, despite food label regula-
tion approaches having undergone partial harmonisation, there is no
formal definition of “craft” or “artisanal” (
Kasapila & Shaarani, 2011).
This review does not aim to provide a prescriptive definition of CFPs.
Rather, it tries to fill two important research gaps in the literature. First,
little attention has been paid to give a systematic overview of key
motives which underlie the consumer ’s perception of craftsmanship of
foods. Second, a model of the key determinants of CFPs purchasing and
consumption behavioural intention is not yet available. This in-
vestigation fills these gaps by adopting the Alphabet Theory from
Zepeda and Deal (2009) as framework to analyse the recurring elements
which emerged from the present review of the literature regarding
consumer perception of food product craftsmanship.
2. Theoretical framework
Many theories have been adopted throughout the years to try to
understand how human beliefs, values, attitudes and the resulting be-
haviours interact with one another to shape actions. The Value-Belief-
Norm (VBN) Theory (Stern, Dietz, Abel, Guagnano, & Kalof, 1999)isa
framework which was introduced to predict pro-environmental beha-
viour. Since then, it has been applied also to describe behaviours of
activism, non-activist public sphere behaviours, private sphere beha-
viours as well as behaviours within organizations. The VBN Theory is in
turn based on other three theories which were also used to predict
environmentally conscious behaviours: the Schwartz’ value Theory
(Schwartz, 1994), the New Ecological Paradigm (Dunlap & Van Liere,
1978
) and Norm-Activation Theory (Schwartz, 1977). According to the
Schwartz’ value Theory, actions are always supported by ten basic
personal values types (i.e. stimulation, self‐direction, universalism,
benevolence, achievement, power, security, conformity, hedonism and
tradition). The New Ecological Paradigm framework focuses instead on
measuring the degree to which an individual agrees with the concept
that we must limit our growth and be in balance with nature in order to
truly thrive as a species. Norm-Activation Theory postulates that moral
norms are put into action when individuals become aware of the pos-
sible adverse consequences of their actions and take responsibility for
trying to avoid them. Taking these three theories into consideration, the
VBN Theory asserts that values are key elements in shaping beliefs,
which affect norms, and eventually lead to certain behaviours. There-
fore, VBN Theory can be effectively adopted to explain how personal
attitudes are formulated.
The Attitudes-Behaviours-Context (ABC) Theory, was introduced by
Guagnano, Stern, and Dietz (1995) and is a model used to explain how
attitudes can result in behaviour (
Hiamey & Hiamey, 2018); it states
that, when context is neutral, attitudes are the prime determinants of
behaviour. Contextual factors (which comprise policies, regulations,
costs and other exogenous elements) can be either positive or negative;
when they are particularly strong and influential, they can shadow at-
titudes and shape behaviour.
In
Zepeda and Deal (2009) work, VBN Theory and ABC Theory were
combined and enriched with other elements (namely the demographics
(D), knowledge (K), information seeking (IS) and habit (H)) in order to
obtain VBN-ABC-D-K-IS-H theory, or Alphabet Theory (
Fig. 1). Thus,
based on current consumer theories on environmental behaviour, the
Alphabet Theory was successfully applied both in explaining consumer
behaviour and in a literature review regarding consumers’ perceptions
and preferences (
Feldmann & Hamm, 2015).
In this investigation, we adopted the Alphabet Theory to systematise
the motives which emerged from the literature review regarding con-
sumer’s perception of food product craftsmanship, as well as of the key
factors affecting consumer behaviour towards CFPs. Based on the fra-
mework of the Alphabet Theory, demographic characteristics affect
consumer’s attitudes towards CFPs (i.e. values, belief and norms) that,
in turn, are continually updated by information seeking, knowledge,
and contextual factors (i.e. external conditions such as price, adver-
tising). What is more, the context and attitudes impact consumer habits
(namely a personal routine related to a specific situation) that finally
affect consumer’ s behaviour.
3. Methods
The review of the literature was carried out following the steps set
out by
Arksey and O ’Malley (2005). First, the research questions were
established. Second, relevant studies were identified. Third, after a
screening procedure, pertinent articles were selected and included in
the study. The process was then completed by charting the data, col-
lating, and summarizing it. Finally, the findings of the review of lit-
erature were reported.
3.1. Research questions
Two research questions were investigated:
•
What are the distinguishing attributes of CFPs for consumers?
•
How are these attributes implemented in consumers’ purchasing and
consumption behaviour?
3.2. Selection of bibliographic sources
For refereed literature, Elsevier Scopus®, Web of Science™,
PsycINFO®, PsycARTICLES®, ScienceDirect and EconPapers™ were the
sources of database. The search strategy was defined a priori to assure
transparency and replicability (
Webster & Watson, 2002).
3.3. Keywords and search strategy
The search strategy included the adoption of a combination of
keywords. The string “ (artisanal OR *craft* OR hand-made OR hand-
made OR handcrafted) AND (food OR beverage)” was used to focus the
research on CFPs. In addition to this, the string “(attitudes OR beha-
viour OR motives OR preferences OR perception OR attributes OR
culture) AND (consumer OR consumption OR purchasing)” was run in
combination to the above string search to find key aspects for con-
sumers during their decision making process to purchase and consume
CFPs. The Elsevier Scopus®, PsycINFO®, and PsycARTICLES®,
ScienceDirect and EconPapers databases were searched in the fi eld
abstract, title and keywords. Instead, the Web of Science™ database was
searched in the field topic.
Fig. 1. Alphabet Theory adapted from Zepeda and Deal (2009).
S. Rivaroli, et al.
Food Quality and Preference 79 (2020) 103796
2
3.4. Inclusion and exclusion criteria
The literature search was carried out in August 2018, and no cut-off
criteria were applied to time span. Consistent with
Arksey and O’Malley
(2005)
approach, inclusion and exclusion criteria were determined
before running the literature search (
Table 1). The search was limited to
research articles and reviews written in English. An initial 284 articles
were identified, of which 120 produced by Elsevier Scopus®, 104 pro-
duced by Web of Science™, followed by PsycINFO® and PsycARTICLES®
with 30 papers, ScienceDirect with 26 articles and 4 papers retrieved
from the EconPapers database. The double counts was the second ex-
clusion criterion, and allowed us to discard 62 papers. Therefore, 222
papers were finally selected for the double screening process (Fig. 2).
3.5. Screening process
To ensure the quality of the selected articles, a double screening
process was conducted: a manual scanning of titles and abstracts, and a
manual full-text review stage. This double round of screening resulted
in 186 articles excluded because they did not specifically address the
key aspects that distinguish CFPs, and/or did not focus on consumer
behaviour. A total of 36 papers were finally considered for the review of
literature on CFPs. To validate the above mentioned review process,
authors carried out each process both individually and in pairs.
3.6. Material description and evaluation
For a better interpretation of the aspects that determine purchasing
and consumption behaviour regarding CFPs, the retrieved papers were
described based on key data and attributes (
Saldaña, 2011). A key data
extraction form allowed for the collection of the following information
from each of the reviewed articles: (1) author(s), (2) year of publica-
tion, (3) objective(s), (4) type of products, (5) country, (6) continent,
(7) sample size and composition, (8) main research issues, (9) mea-
surement method (Appendix A). Attributes were identified deductively
based on the existing literature. Relevant information was extracted
and analysed in detail by implementing a simple computer-assisted text
analysis of the 36 reviewed studies, using the Nvivo® qualitative data
analysis software (QRS International, Melbourne, Australia). This last
step of the review was aimed at organizing attributes into compre-
hensive categories to better understand what lies behind the consumer’s
motivations to purchase and consume CFPs, thus revealing gaps to be
explored by further research.
4. Results
4.1. Methodological approaches and research issues
The selected articles cover a time span of 22 years (1997–2018), and
more than half have been published in the past three years. Thus, the
review reveals a growing research interest towards CFPs and related
consumer behaviour.
Concerning the methodological approaches adopted by the units of
analysis, 17 studies conducted a survey and 8 studies adopted a
Table 1
Inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Criteria Inclusion Exclusion
Time span All None
Language English Other
Publication type1 Peer-reviewed Non peer-reviewed
Publication type2 Research article and review Other
Product considered Food and Beverage Other
Focus Consumers perception Other
Database Number
of papers
Search field
Search string
Elsevier Scopus
®
120
Abstract, title,
keywords
(artisanal OR *craft* OR
hand-made OR handmade
OR handcrafted) AND (food
OR beverage) AND (attitudes
OR behavior OR motives OR
preferences OR perception
OR attributes OR culture)
AND (consumer OR
consumption OR purchasing)
Web of Science
TM
104 Topic
PsycINFO® and
PsycARTICLES®
30
Abstract, title,
keywords
ScienceDirect 26
Abstract, title,
keywords
EconPapers 4
Abstract, title,
keywords
Literature search
222 articles were included for title, abstract and full-text review stage
62 duplicated articles were removed
186 articles excluded after the screening
of title, abstract and text
Screening
36 articles were finally included in the study
Reporting
Synthesis of evidence of 36 articles included in the study
Fig. 2. Flow chart and criteria of article selection process.
S. Rivaroli, et al.
Food Quality and Preference 79 (2020) 103796
3
/ 11
End of Document
336
You May Also Like

FAQs of Consumers’ Perception of Food Product Craftsmanship

What factors influence consumers' perceptions of craft foods?
Consumers' perceptions of craft foods are influenced by several factors, including sensory experiences, local identity, and self-identity. Sensory experiences, such as taste and texture, play a crucial role in how consumers evaluate food quality. Local identity connects consumers to the origins of their food, enhancing their appreciation for craft products. Self-identity allows consumers to express their values and lifestyle choices through their food selections, often leading them to prefer artisanal over mass-produced items.
How does craftwashing affect consumer trust?
Craftwashing refers to the deceptive marketing practices where industrial companies present their products as artisanal or handcrafted. This phenomenon can lead to consumer confusion and mistrust, as it dilutes the true meaning of craftsmanship in food products. When consumers realize they have been misled, it can damage their perception of both the brand and the craft food category as a whole. Understanding craftwashing is essential for consumers to make informed choices and for marketers to maintain credibility.
What is the significance of local identity in craft food consumption?
Local identity plays a significant role in craft food consumption as it connects consumers to their cultural heritage and community. Products that emphasize local origins often evoke feelings of authenticity and pride among consumers. This connection can enhance the perceived value of craft foods, making them more desirable. Additionally, consumers are more likely to support local artisans, as purchasing these products reinforces their identity and commitment to local economies.
What methodologies were used in the research on craft foods?
The research on consumers' perceptions of craft foods employed various methodologies, including surveys, qualitative interviews, and literature reviews. Surveys helped gather quantitative data on consumer preferences and behaviors, while qualitative interviews provided deeper insights into the motivations behind these choices. The literature review synthesized existing studies to identify trends and gaps in the understanding of craft food perceptions. This mixed-methods approach allowed for a comprehensive analysis of the topic.
How do sensory experiences impact the perception of craft foods?
Sensory experiences significantly impact the perception of craft foods, as they directly influence consumer enjoyment and satisfaction. The flavor, texture, and aroma of food contribute to the overall experience, shaping consumers' attitudes towards specific products. For instance, craft foods often offer unique and diverse flavors that stand out from mass-produced alternatives. This sensory appeal can lead consumers to develop a preference for craft foods, as they seek out memorable and enjoyable eating experiences.

Related of Consumers’ Perception of Food Product Craftsmanship