Overcoming consumption barriers for conscious food products: The relevance of measures encouraging individual sensory imagery
(R2020-85037)

AUTHORS

Thomas Poscher, Austrian Marketing University of Applied Sciences, Campus Wieselburg der FH Wiener Neustadt GmbH; Roswitha Enzelberger, Fachhochschule Wr. Neustadt GmbH, Campus Wieselburg; Kathrin Heim, Austrian Marketing University of Applied Sciences, Campus Wieselburg der Fachhochschule Wiener Neustadt GmbH; Robert Fina, Austrian Marketing University of Applied Sciences, Campus Wieselburg der Fachhochschule Wiener Neustadt GmbH; Elisabeth Steiner, Austrian Marketing University of Applied Sciences, Campus Wieselburg der Fachhochschule Wiener Neustadt GmbH; Udo Wagner, University of Vienna

KEYWORDS

Conscious; sustainable; consumption-barriers

ABSTRACT

The present paper focuses on combating lay theory-based consumption barriers towards conscious food products. We draw on literature on sensory imagery, the availability-valence hypothesis and Grice’s Theory of Conversational Implicature and report an experimental study, involving sensory testing, storytelling, and VR technology, investigating the effects of vividness of sensory imagery on consumers’ behavioral intentions. The experimental study (n = 160) was conceptualized as a mixed design study. Results provide first empirical evidence for the fact that stimulating individual imagery by storytelling can be more efficient in reducing consumption barriers than the use of VR technology or verbal sensory product descriptions.