Food Consumer Confusion in the age of sustainable food information proliferation : investigating the underlying processes
(2025)
Files
Doctoralthesis-AxelleDorisse.pdf
Embargo Access until 2030-11-25 - Adobe PDF
- 3.94 MB
Details
- Authors
- Supervisors
- Abstract
- Consumers today face an overwhelming amount of food-related information, from product variety and advertising to complex nutritional claims, public policy campaigns, and social media discourse. While intended to empower, this information overload increasingly contributes to consumer confusion. Despite its relevance, little is known about the processes of this confusion in the food context, the conditions under which it arises, and its unintended consequences. This doctoral thesis explains how information proliferation induces Food Consumer Confusion (FCC). Structured around three essays, it combines qualitative and quantitative methods to progressively deepen our understanding of FCC. The first essay addresses the broader context of information proliferation and introduces a conceptual framework outlining the mechanisms that drive FCC. It shows how excessive, ambiguous, or contradictory information can induce heuristic coping strategies, reduce message effectiveness, or foster a negative attitude toward the food industry. Both low and high food literacy can exacerbate confusion, through either misunderstanding or skepticism. The essay also highlights the role of emotional responses, positioning confusion as both a cognitive and emotional experience. The second essay investigates two key cognitive processes (i.e., cognitive load and situational skepticism) through the lens of multi- labelling. Study 1 identifies these mechanisms; Study 2 confirms their mediating role in the relationship between conflicting labels and general confusion and suggests the absence of a spillover effect (but further research is warranted). Study 3 replicates the mediating effects. The third essay extends this by examining the precise conditions under which multi-labelling leads to confusion, and the impact of confusion on choice. Conflicting labels with opposing valences consistently generate confusion, regardless of whether they are self-oriented and others-oriented, or both others-oriented, but this confusion does not directly affect purchase intentions. Instead, when both labels are others-oriented, they reduce moral satisfaction, which in turn lowers purchase intentions. Matching valences, on the other hand, have a direct effect on purchase intentions, positive when both are others-oriented, and negative when their orientations diverge. This thesis contributes to the literature on consumer confusion and multi-labelling, and extends food information processing, while offering practical guidance to policy makers and managers. By aiming to reduce confusion and support more sustainable choices, this work contributes to the field of social marketing.
- Affiliations
Citations
Dorisse, A. (2025). Food Consumer Confusion in the age of sustainable food information proliferation : investigating the underlying processes.