How does mothers’ mood matter on their choice of organic food? Controlled eye-tracking study

Abstract

Organic foods have been argued to be highly beneficial for human health and environmental sustainability. Interest in organic food consumption has been steadily growing. In practice, music and sounds of nature have widely been utilized in the food retailing industry to evoke customers and influence their sustainable product purchases. The present research explored the effects of subjective and objective knowledge, mood states, connectedness to nature (CtN), and visual attention to the organic logo on organic purchase by a controlled eye-tracking study. Sixty women, all with children participated in the study. Findings revealed that objective knowledge, subjective knowledge, and visual attention on organic labels posed significant effects on organic purchases. However, no such effects of mood states and connectedness to nature have been observed. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.