The Shared Story: How Narratives Affect Consumers’ Sense of Community and Support for CSAs

As the demand for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) grows, attracting and retaining consumers remains a challenge. Digital communication between farmers and consumers is recommended, but limited empirical research regarding optimal content strategies exist. Narrative persuasion, applied as a communication strategy, offers a promising opportunity to connect with CSA consumers. This study, an online between-subjects experiment, examined how consumers (n = 182) respond to narrative vs. non-narrative email messages from CSAs. Moreover, narrative perspective (first-person vs. third-person) was explored. Results indicated that consumers who read a short narrative were more likely to: feel positive emotion, a communal connection to the farm and support the farm than those who did not read a narrative. First-person perspective was viewed as less credible than third-person. Results emphasize the need for CSAs to digitally share their stories with consumers, in an effort to garner support for local farms. This study demonstrates an evidence-based approach to message development for CSAs.