title: Human contact imagined during the production process increases food naturalness perceptions.
abstract: It is well established that food processing and naturalness are not good friends, but is food processing always detrimental to naturalness? Building on the contagion principle, this research examines how production mode (handmade vs. machine-made) influences naturalness perceptions. In a pilot study (n = 69) and an experiment (n = 133), we found that compared with both a baseline condition and a condition in which the mode of production process was portrayed as machine-made, a handmade production mode increases naturalness ratings of a grape juice. A mediation analysis demonstrates that these effects result from higher perceived human contact suggesting that the production process may preserve food naturalness when humanized.
authors: NEOMA Business School, 59 rue Pierre Taittinger, 51100 Reims, France.
authors: Nathalie
authors: N
authors: Abouab
authors: NEOMA Business School, 59 rue Pierre Taittinger, 51100 Reims, France. Electronic address: pierrick.gomez@neoma-bs.fr.
authors: Pierrick
authors: P
authors: Gomez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D001628:Beverages; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D005260:Female; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D005515:Food Labeling; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D040541:Marketing; D010465:Perception; D010865:Pilot Projects; D027843:Vitis; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Contagion effects; Handmade; Naturalness; Production mode