Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-23377
Publication type: Article in scientific journal
Type of review: Peer review (publication)
Title: Consumers’ knowledge gain through a cross-category environmental label
Authors: Dihr, Marius
Berthold, Anne
Siegrist, Michael
Sütterlin, Bernadette
et. al: No
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128688
10.21256/zhaw-23377
Published in: Journal of Cleaner Production
Volume(Issue): 319
Issue: 128688
Issue Date: 2021
Publisher / Ed. Institution: Elsevier
ISSN: 0959-6526
Language: English
Subjects: Environmental label; Sustainable product; Consumer communication; Consumer preference and attitude
Subject (DDC): 333.7: Land, natural recreational areas
658.8: Marketing management
Abstract: Consumers' food choices play a crucial role in the shift toward increased sustainability. However, consumers' knowledge about daily food items is not sufficient to evoke environmentally friendly food choices. To facilitate a shift towards more sustainable food consumption, providing understandable information about the environmental impact of products in an easily accessible and effective way seems to be promising. With this outcome in view, we created a new label and tested its effectiveness in improving people's accuracy in evaluating the environmental friendliness of food products. The proposed label is based on life cycle assessment (LCA) and designed to compare food items across food categories through a color-coded scheme. In an online choice task, participants were asked to choose the more environmentally friendly product of two options. Depending on the condition, the products were either labeled or not. As expected, the number of correct choices was significantly higher when the products were labeled (vs. not). Moreover, participants had a positive attitude toward the cross-category label; they evaluated it as comprehensible, credible and useful. The majority of participants indicated that they would be willing to include the label in their shopping decisions, if it were introduced to the market. Altogether, the present research provides evidence that a color-coded sustainability label is suitable for informing consumers about the environmental impact of food products and helps them identify environmentally friendly products.
URI: https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/23377
Fulltext version: Published version
License (according to publishing contract): CC BY-NC-ND 4.0: Attribution - Non commercial - No derivatives 4.0 International
Departement: School of Engineering
Organisational Unit: Institute of Sustainable Development (INE)
Appears in collections:Publikationen School of Engineering

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
2021_Dihr-etal_Cross-category-environmental-label.pdf3.85 MBAdobe PDFThumbnail
View/Open
Show full item record
Dihr, M., Berthold, A., Siegrist, M., & Sütterlin, B. (2021). Consumers’ knowledge gain through a cross-category environmental label. Journal of Cleaner Production, 319(128688). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128688
Dihr, M. et al. (2021) ‘Consumers’ knowledge gain through a cross-category environmental label’, Journal of Cleaner Production, 319(128688). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128688.
M. Dihr, A. Berthold, M. Siegrist, and B. Sütterlin, “Consumers’ knowledge gain through a cross-category environmental label,” Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 319, no. 128688, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128688.
DIHR, Marius, Anne BERTHOLD, Michael SIEGRIST und Bernadette SÜTTERLIN, 2021. Consumers’ knowledge gain through a cross-category environmental label. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2021. Bd. 319, Nr. 128688. DOI 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128688
Dihr, Marius, Anne Berthold, Michael Siegrist, and Bernadette Sütterlin. 2021. “Consumers’ Knowledge Gain through a Cross-Category Environmental Label.” Journal of Cleaner Production 319 (128688). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128688.
Dihr, Marius, et al. “Consumers’ Knowledge Gain through a Cross-Category Environmental Label.” Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 319, no. 128688, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128688.


Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.