IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i4p3697-d1071416.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Influence of Complexity in Low-Fat Food Packaging on Chinese Consumers’ Purchase Intentions

Author

Listed:
  • Tiansheng Xia

    (School of Art and Design, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510090, China)

  • Xiujuan Fan

    (School of Art and Design, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510090, China)

  • Jingwei Zhang

    (School of Art and Design, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510090, China)

  • Tingting Liu

    (School of Art and Design, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510090, China)

Abstract

Packaging design is one of the most important visual representations of low-fat foods and is a key factor in the perception of the health of the product. The complexity of packaging induces the automatic processing of relevant concepts by consumers, which affects their attitudes; however, this process is not well understood. We developed a sequential mediation model based on the theories of conceptual fluency and conceptual metaphor to examine the impact of packaging complexity on consumers’ purchase intentions. In this study, 353 volunteers were recruited to participate, and variables were measured using questionnaires on packaging intention, brand complexity, concept fluency, and brand attitude. The results indicated that it was simple to increase consumers’ conceptual fluency and brand attitude; conceptual fluency had a significant predictive effect on brand attitude and purchase intention; brand attitude had a significant predictive effect on purchase intention and conceptual fluency; and brand attitude served as a mediator between packaging complexity and purchase intention. This study demonstrated that the general characteristics of packaging design could influence consumers’ purchase intentions and provide direction for the packaging design of low-fat foods. In addition, we examine the study’s theoretical and practical implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Tiansheng Xia & Xiujuan Fan & Jingwei Zhang & Tingting Liu, 2023. "Influence of Complexity in Low-Fat Food Packaging on Chinese Consumers’ Purchase Intentions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-15, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:3697-:d:1071416
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3697/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3697/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Soyoung Seo & Hee-Kyung Ahn & Jaeseok Jeong & Junghoon Moon, 2016. "Consumers’ Attitude toward Sustainable Food Products: Ingredients vs. Packaging," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-19, October.
    2. Blair Kidwell & Adam Farmer & David M. Hardesty, 2013. "Getting Liberals and Conservatives to Go Green: Political Ideology and Congruent Appeals," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 40(2), pages 350-367.
    3. Mai, Robert & Symmank, Claudia & Seeberg-Elverfeldt, Berenike, 2016. "Light and Pale Colors in Food Packaging: When Does This Package Cue Signal Superior Healthiness or Inferior Tastiness?," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 92(4), pages 426-444.
    4. John W. Pracejus & G. Douglas Olsen & Thomas C. O'Guinn, 2006. "How Nothing Became Something: White Space, Rhetoric, History, and Meaning," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 33(1), pages 82-90, June.
    5. Kim, Jungkeun & Spence, Mark T. & Marshall, Roger, 2018. "The Color of Choice: The Influence of Presenting Product Information in Color on the Compromise Effect," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 167-185.
    6. Shahjahan Ali & Shahnaj Akter & Csaba Fogarassy, 2021. "Analysis of Circular Thinking in Consumer Purchase Intention to Buy Sustainable Waste-To-Value (WTV) Foods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-14, May.
    7. Orth, Ulrich R. & Crouch, Roberta C., 2014. "Is Beauty in the Aisles of the Retailer? Package Processing in Visually Complex Contexts," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 90(4), pages 524-537.
    8. Yonezawa, Koichi & Richards, Timothy J., 2016. "Competitive Package Size Decisions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 92(4), pages 445-469.
    9. Claire I. Tsai & Ann L. McGill, 2011. "No Pain, No Gain? How Fluency and Construal Level Affect Consumer Confidence," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(5), pages 807-821.
    10. Boyoun (Grace) Chae & JoAndrea Hoegg, 2013. "The Future Looks "Right": Effects of the Horizontal Location of Advertising Images on Product Attitude," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 40(2), pages 223-238.
    11. Mead, James A. & Richerson, Rob, 2018. "Package color saturation and food healthfulness perceptions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 10-18.
    12. Hyojin Lee & Xiaoyan Deng & H. Rao Unnava & Kentaro Fujita, 2014. "Monochrome Forests and Colorful Trees: The Effect of Black-and-White versus Color Imagery on Construal Level," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 41(4), pages 1015-1032.
    13. Celhay, Franck & Cheng, Peiyao & Masson, Josselin & Li, Wenhua, 2020. "Package graphic design and communication across cultures: An investigation of Chinese consumers' interpretation of imported wine labels," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 108-128.
    14. Joonas Rokka & Liisa Uusitalo, 2008. "Preference for green packaging in consumer product choices : Do consumers care?," Post-Print hal-02313351, HAL.
    15. Hyojin Lee & Xiaoyan Deng & H. Rao Unnava & Kentaro Fujita, 2014. "Monochrome Forests and Colorful Trees: The Effect of Black-and-White versus Color Imagery on Construal Level," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 41(4), pages 1015-1032.
    16. Favier, Manon & Celhay, Franck & Pantin-Sohier, Gaëlle, 2019. "Is less more or a bore? Package design simplicity and brand perception: an application to Champagne," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 11-20.
    17. Ajitha, S. & Sivakumar, V.J., 2017. "Understanding the effect of personal and social value on attitude and usage behavior of luxury cosmetic brands," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 103-113.
    18. Jung Eun Lee & Songyee Hur & Brandi Watkins, 2018. "Visual communication of luxury fashion brands on social media: effects of visual complexity and brand familiarity," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(5), pages 449-462, September.
    19. Shahnaj Akter & Shahjahan Ali & Mária Fekete-Farkas & Csaba Fogarassy & Zoltán Lakner, 2023. "Why Organic Food? Factors Influence the Organic Food Purchase Intension in an Emerging Country (Study from Northern Part of Bangladesh)," Resources, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-19, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kevin L. Sample & Henrik Hagtvedt & S. Adam Brasel, 2020. "Components of visual perception in marketing contexts: a conceptual framework and review," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 405-421, May.
    2. Capelli, Sonia & Thomas, Fanny, 2021. "To look tasty, let's show the ingredients! Effects of ingredient images on implicit tasty–healthy associations for packaged products," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    3. Sonia Capelli & Fanny Thomas, 2020. "To look tasty, let's show the ingredients! Effects of ingredient images on implicit tasty–healthy associations for packaged products," Post-Print hal-02528287, HAL.
    4. Nenkov, Gergana Y. & Morrin, Maureen & Maille, Virginie & Rank-Christman, Tracy & Lwin, May O., 2019. "Sense and sensibility: The impact of visual and auditory sensory input on marketplace morality," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 428-441.
    5. Yuanqiong He & Junfang Zhang & Yuanyuan Zhou & Zhilin Yang, 2019. "“Monkey See, Monkey Do?”: The Effect of Construal Level on Consumers’ Reactions to Others’ Unethical Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(2), pages 455-472, May.
    6. Liu, Stephanie Q. & Wu, Laurie Luorong & Yu, Xi & Huang, Huiling, 2022. "Marketing online food images via color saturation: A sensory imagery perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 366-378.
    7. Northey, Gavin & Chan, Eugene Y., 2020. "Political conservatism and preference for (a)symmetric brand logos," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 149-159.
    8. Lunardo, Renaud & Saintives, Camille & Chaney, Damien, 2021. "Food packaging and the color red: How negative cognitive associations influence feelings of guilt," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 589-600.
    9. Ma, Jianan & Li, Fangxuan (Sam), 2023. "Does ‘chicken soup for the soul’ on the product packaging work? The mediating role of perceived warmth and self-brand connection," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    10. Pecot, Fabien & Celhay, Franck & Kacha, Mathieu & Lombard, Gautier, 2022. "Expressions of the past: A practice-based approach of brand longevity visual translation in advertising," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 121-133.
    11. Li, Chenxi & Xia, Xinyue & Lin, Yixun & Wen, Hanlin, 2024. "Polluted cognition: The effect of air pollution on online purchasing behavior," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    12. Krishna, Aradhna & Cian, Luca & Aydınoğlu, Nilüfer Z., 2017. "Sensory Aspects of Package Design," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 43-54.
    13. Chang, Jung-Hua & Chen, Jyun-Yu, 2022. "Let the sports endorser speak: Combination of endorser type, color, and copy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 939-950.
    14. Martinez, Luisa M. & Rando, Belén & Agante, Luisa & Abreu, Ana Maria, 2021. "True colors: Consumers’ packaging choices depend on the color of retail environment," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    15. Tan, Fuqiang & Li, Xi & Agarwal, Reeti & Joshi, Yatish & Yaqub, Muhammad Zafar, 2024. "Does multilingual packaging influence purchasing in retail segment? Evidence from multiple experiments," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    16. Mead, James A. & Richerson, Rob, 2018. "Package color saturation and food healthfulness perceptions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 10-18.
    17. Mohamed Didi Alaoui & Fabien Pecot & Altaf Merchant & Mathieu Kacha, 2024. "Step back in time! A construal level perspective on advertisements using brand longevity cues," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 503-518, September.
    18. Rizomyliotis, Ioannis & Konstantoulaki, Kleopatra & Kostopoulos, Ioannis, 2018. "Reassessing the effect of colour on attitude and behavioural intentions in promotional activities: The moderating role of mood and involvement," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 204-215.
    19. Ouidade Sabri & Van Doan Hai & Faten Malek & Hager Bachouche, 2019. "When Is Transparent Packaging Beneficial?," Working Papers 2019-006, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    20. Schweitzer, Fiona & Mai, Robert, 2021. "The double-edged sword of intricate idea enactment in product development," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 392-402.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:3697-:d:1071416. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.