Trust pathways: The key to unlocking health and sustainability perceptions in food choices

Videos have become a popular communication tool and an opportunity to create narratives about health and sustainability that favour informed consumer choices. This study investigates how video source and format (formal vs. TikTok-style) influence consumers' purchase intention. For this, a serial model incorporating the mediating effects of trust and perceived health and sustainability benefits was proposed, based on previous theories of source credibility, and message processing and acceptance. Results showed that the source of information had both direct and indirect effects on purchase intention. The TikTok video directly increased purchase intention, but formal video also increased it through indirect pathways. Trust fully mediated the influence of the source of information on consumer perception of healthiness and sustainability of products. In turn, the perception of healthiness positively affected purchase intention, but sustainability did not have such an impact. This study provides a better understanding of the multiple intermediate effects that explain how video source and format affect consumers' purchase intention. It highlights the important role of trust as a “gatekeeper” for consumer acceptance of messages and purchasing decisions. • Mediation analysis was used to explain the impact of source of information on purchase intention. • Trust drives how health and sustainability messages shape purchase intention. • Trust enhances health perception, influencing purchase intention. • Sustainability perception alone lacks impact on purchase intention.