Jean Pfiffelmann, enseignant-chercheur à l’EM Strasbourg, a publié un article dans le volume 40 de la revue Recherche et Applications en Marketing (RAM).
Cet article intitulé « Comparing apples to oranges: Consumer ambivalence regarding an eco-innovation – laser marking of organic fruits » a été écrit en collaboration avec Olga Untilov (Audencia Business School), Chiara Mionetto (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia), John Thøgersen (Aarhus University) and Aline Gengenbach (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen).
Abstract :
Laser marking is an innovative and eco-friendly alternative to plastic sticker labeling of organic fruits, with no known negative side effects. Still, based on Ram and Sheth’s innovation resistance theory, we predict that this food eco-innovation applied to the produce may lead to ambivalent responses, with consumers valuing its eco-friendliness but fearing health risks. Drawing on Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory, we predict that consumers actively attempt to resolve the ambivalence by adapting their beliefs about laser marking to situation-specific realities. Finally, based on Nemeroff and Rozin’s contagion theory, we predict that an important situation-specific reality for this eco-innovation is fruit peel edibility, which moderates the found relationships. These hypotheses are tested in three between-subjects experiments (Study 1 – 396 participants; Study 2 – 390 participants; Study 3 – 346 participants). Participants were exposed to scenarios presenting an organic fruit with a laser-marked or plastic sticker label, on an edible or non-edible peel. As predicted, we find that laser marking decreases perceived eco-friendliness, because of anticipation of food waste, and reduces perceived healthfulness, because of fear of contamination, both depending on whether the fruit’s peel is edible or not. Implications for managers include the need to educate consumers about the benefits and risks of this technology. For a start, laser marking should probably be limited to fruits with non-edible peels.
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Recherche et Applications en Marketing publishes articles covering any aspect of marketing, including consumer behaviour, communication, retailing, CRM, new product development and more. The journal publishes research articles, research notes, critical state of the art papers, and also articles offering perspectives from other disciplines which might be applied to marketing.