Why trust is crucial – The moderating role of trust in the relationship between motivation and intention to buy healthy, sustainable and novel foods

Within an increasingly resource-challenged food system, consumers need greater confidence in their ability to make better and more informed food choices. We investigated the role of trust as a moderator of the relationship between the motivation to make healthy, sustainable and novel food choices and the intention to actually do so, based on the reasoning that novel healthy and sustainable food products are marketed by credence attributes, where consumers must rely on information that is provided by food chain actors. In an online survey conducted in 13 European countries over two years with a sample of 25,610 respondents, we explored how social trust, beliefs in trustworthiness and overall trust moderate the motivation-intention relationship. Results show that while trust cannot compensate for a lack of motivation to engage in healthy or sustainable behaviours, the relationship between motivation and intention was strengthened by higher levels of trust for sustainable and innovative food choices, but not for healthy food choices, and this finding was largely consistent across both years. For sustainable choices, the motivation-intention relationship was moderated by trust in farmers and retailers but not in manufacturers or authorities. All types of trust moderated the motivation-intention relationship for adoption of novel foods. This has implications for investment in trust initiatives on the part of policymakers, food businesses and food system actors.