Hans C. M. van Trijp

Wageningen University & Research | WUR · Marketing and Consumer Behaviour Group

ne novel strategy to shift food choices in digital shopping environments is to automatically recommend healthier alternatives when an unhealthy choice is made. However, this raises the question which alternative products to recommend. This study assesses 1) whether healthier food swap recommendations are effective, even though the unhealthy choice...

Subsistence Marketplaces publishes studies that study consumers, entrepreneurs, and marketplaces from a broad range of low income contexts in their own right, transcending the boundaries between sectors and disciplines to derive practically meaningful implications. This paper contributes to accomplishing the mission of the new journal by contextual...

Recently, situation researchers have developed taxonomies of situation-perception dimensions, also called situation characteristics. Situation-perception dimensions reflect how individuals psychologically interpret situations and predict subsequent behaviour. Similarly, in appraisal theories of emotion, appraisal dimensions have helped to understan...

Background Eating habits must change substantially in order to address the urgent societal challenges of personal, public and planetary health. Research surrounding various facets of dietary transition remains siloed, hindering breakthroughs. Scope and approach We argue the scientific case for transdisciplinary research centered around the transit...

This research investigates the attitudes and intentions of Chinese consumers about cultured "meat" (CM). We also investigate framing effects through the names used for these products ("cultured meat," "artificial meat," and "cell-based meat") and the effect of information provision. Of the 1532 consumers in our sample, most had not heard of "cultur...

Sustainable food packaging alternatives represent an ever-expanding trend on supermarkets' shelves. Despite the technological efforts, a higher sustainability level often comes at the expense of other (perceived) benefits which consumers might not want to sacrifice. While the balance between the benefits and drawbacks of “cleaner” packaging product...

p>This work examines the associated emotions of consumers transmitted from extrinsic attributes (fat‐related nutrition claims (full‐fat, low‐fat, and fat‐free) and ingredient features (plain, berries, and double chocolate chunk)) labelled on yoghurt packages. It differentiates by consumption context (health versus indulgent) at the time of the surv...

p>Firms often emphasize “green” benefits for products that are only partially more sustainable than alternatives (e.g., a more sustainable packaging with similar product ingredients). The current article posits that such strategies can lead to a perceived claim–fact discrepancy and examines to what extent this makes consumers feel deceived and detr...

Research on social influences often distinguishes between social and quality incentives to ascribe meaning to the value that popularity conveys. This study examines the neural correlates of those incentives through which popularity influences preferences. This research reports an functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment and a behavioral tas...

The ability to perceive bodily signals of satiation and hunger is key for the self-regulation of food intake. Measuring this competence in large populations and/or in ecologically valid conditions requires valid self-reports. In this research, we tested the construct validity of two self-report measures of the Multidimensional Internally Regulated...

Sustainable packaging innovations are becoming increasingly available in the marketplace. However, their communication to consumers remains a challenging task, as neither their distinctiveness nor their higher sustainability level is recognized. Contributing to research in environmental psychology, the current work conceptualized and tested the new...

This paper replies to the call for more agile-stage-gate hybrid methods in the context of physical innovations. By showing how some of the characteristics of conventional linear stage-gate methods and of the agile approaches can be integrated, we propose and test a new form of hybrid method for the physical new product development process (NPD). Di...

Rural communities that depend on common-pool resources for their livelihoods are being increasingly affected by the expanding global market system. Because such market integration is still relatively thin, communities vary in terms of market comprehension. Using a common-pool resource dilemma experiment, this study examines the effect of market kno...

An increasing number of studies investigate the effects of mindfulness on food intake and weight outcomes, while the underlying mechanisms by which mindfulness exerts its effects have received less attention. We conducted two pre-registered studies to shed light on the frequently proposed yet largely understudied hypothesis that mindfulness improve...

Eating habits appear to become less healthy once children move into adolescence. Adolescence is characterized by increasing independence and autonomy. Still, parents continue influencing adolescents’ eating habits. This cross-sectional study used a Self-Determination Theory perspective to examine how parents can support preadolescents’ food-related...

Cultured meat is a potentially successful future alternative to conventional meat if consumers perceive it as similar enough to conventional meat. This paper aimed to investigate how consumers categorize cultured meat after receiving information about it being similar to meat or meat substitutes. The first study (N = 130) showed that similarity inf...

The purpose of this study is to develop and illustrate a generally applicable approach on how scales for marketing constructs can adequately be developed for application in diverse cultural contexts, and to illustrate the approach in the development of market orientation measurement for seed producer cooperatives (SPCs) context in Ethiopia. Both cr...

A trend is visible in the food literature showing an increasing number of publications on studies that incorporate some form of participant engagement, such as citizen science and community-based participatory research. This “participation trend” will inevitably affect the scientific field of food behaviour research. This new trend is however not o...

With the increasing scarcity of natural resources, the ability to maintain quality standards during resource‐scarce times becomes more critical for business performance. Theories on managing resource scarcity cannot be easily tested in contexts where resources are still abundant. This study therefore turns to an emerging market context in which nat...

In this paper, we describe the systematic development and validation of the Multidimensional Internally Regulated Eating Scale (MIRES), a new self-report instrument that quantifies the individual-difference characteristics that together shape the inclination towards eating in response to internal bodily sensations of hunger and satiation (i.e., int...

Internally regulated eating style, the eating style that is driven by internal bodily sensations of hunger and satiation, is a concept that has received increasing attention in the literature and health practice over the last decades. The various attempts that have been made so far to conceptualize internally regulated eating have taken place indep...

Many times, desire possesses us and impedes us from making healthier food choices. From a grounded cognition perspective, we investigated the role of two types of mental simulation (process and outcome) in desire and food choice to understand the processes that modulate them and find strategies that encourage healthier food choices. In addition to...

The Council on Animal Affairs operates in a social environment where there is a constant threat of polarisation. This is an obstacle to the development of a healthy dialogue. Such a dialogue would do justice to the scientific facts about animals, while also acknowledging social and ideological views. Incidentally, in chapter 2 we found that the ans...

Many people struggle with the classical choice of eating a mouth-watering snack versus a healthier product. One of the reasons behind this is that unhealthier products are appealing for their direct gratification; they deliver pleasure. The present research investigates the effect of mental simulation as a relatively new strategy to possibly shift...

Many adolescents have poor eating habits. As a major part of their caloric intake takes place at school, the present study aims to examine the effect of increasing the availability of healthier foods in school canteens on sales, student attitude and self-reported behaviour. A quasi-experimental study was carried out at two vocational schools in the...

Behavioural change interventions directed at consumers have a great potential to reduce overall food waste levels. Van Geffen, van Herpen and van Trijp provide an overview of the literature on drivers of in-home food waste and translate them into guidelines for effective intervention development. They make a clear distinction between interventions...

With two extensive eye-tracking studies, we reveal that the introduction of a new attribute in a product assortment can increase the attention given to competing products. Moreover, we demonstrate that this increased attention, reflecting a verification search, negatively affects consumers´ attitudes and choices for competing products.

This study explores the motivations, opportunities, and abilities that consumers have for reducing food waste in everyday contexts that involve competing (food-related) goals. The framework of motivations, opportunities, and abilities is used to disentangle the complex array of factors that contribute to food waste. Results from 24 focus groups con...

Determining the key parameters driving attention and choice at the point of sale is a challenging task. To address this challenge, we performed two studies employing eye-tracking (ET) as a methodological tool when varying the visual marketing stimuli in a lab-experimental setting and in real supermarket shelf, and thus, facing an important gap in t...

In response to rapid globalization, African countries have dedicated considerable efforts to transform rural producers into businesses and integrate them with global markets. Pastoralists are mostly isolated from the other livestock value chain members. This makes it difficult for them to acquire knowledge regarding how the market functions and wha...

The concept of internally regulated eating has been explored along several, distinct research lines. The most prominent are those on intuitive eating, eating competence, and mindful eating, but there are also several independent intervention programs that promote eating by internal hunger and satiation cues (i.e., bodily sensations of hunger and sa...

With the use of virtual reality, this study investigates the potential for popularity cues to stimulate consumers to choose healthier products (versus regular products) within product categories in a supermarket context. Popularity may increase perceived product quality and perceived certainty about that quality. Healthier alternatives (i.e., light...

Purpose In many countries, schools move toward healthier canteen assortments by limiting the supply of unhealthy foods. The question arises whether this gives any undesirable side effects with students (e.g. compensation in purchases from school to outside retailers, reactance) and how to handle these so that operating school canteens remains finan...

Abstract This paper investigates how ‘gendered’ packaging designs affect consumer decision-making with regard to sustainably packaged products where packaging functions as an overt signal for sustainability. The research builds on prior findings that sustainable packaged product offerings are favourably perceived for gentleness benefits, yet are d...

Abstract Firms often emphasize ‘green’ benefits for products which are only partially made more sustainable (e.g., a more sustainable packaging without changing the product’s ingredients). The current paper posits that such strategies can lead to a claim-fact discrepancy (i.e., actual environmental performance does not fully match the claim) and i...

The continued interest in market access and market integration policies targeting small-scale agricultural producers has led researchers to further explore the theoretical underpinnings of these concepts. This study presents an in-depth qualitative investigation into the behavioral consequences of market integration for Ethiopian pastoralists. The...

Many consumers express concerns about the welfare of animals in agriculture, but often refrain from purchasing animal‐friendly alternatives that address their concerns. To support consumers in making choices in line with their values and attitudes, this study approaches consumer animal‐friendly product choice as a dilemma between maximising the buy...

Although social norms can substantially impact consumer decision making, understanding of how the specification of the norm determines its impact is limited. This meta-analysis (200 independent studies, 659 effect sizes) examines how aspects of social norm specification determine the effect of norms on attitudes, behavioral intentions, and behavior...

The subsistence marketplaces literature has generated many insights on how the marketplaces of the poor function. One important issue that has remained understudied is how microentrepreneurs who start their career in poverty manage to break the status quo of subsistence marketplaces and obtain a stable position in the middle classes of developing a...

In line with findings on post-purchase food-choice regret, one can expect that pre-purchase anticipated regret with respect to forgone (non-chosen) alternatives has an impact on consumer food choices, especially when the choice is considered to be important. The traditional Random Utility Maximization (RUM) models for discrete choices may not fully...

Deciding what to eat often implies a conflict between immediate goals (I need to eat, ideally something enjoyable) and long-term goals (I need to be healthy), particularly when choosing between foods superior on a hedonic dimension (referred to as vices) and foods superior on an utilitarian dimension (referred to as virtues). One sort of interventi...

To reduce poverty, policy makers in developing and emerging markets have tried to connect producers at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) to high-income markets. With supermarkets and exporters stretching their influence in these markets, policy makers can build their policies on the arrangements that companies offer to BoP producers. Although studies...

Purpose Psychological factors, such as body image dissatisfaction and the negative feelings associated with it may be related to the adoption of unhealthy eating behaviours. Also, body image dissatisfaction may lower the likelihood of engaging in long-term healthy eating habits and in the level of attention paid to the quality of the food consumed...

The environmental benefit from sustainable packaging is not only dependent on the characteristics of the packaging, but also on consumer willingness to purchase sustainably packaged products. Consumer response is likely influenced by the specific design strategies that are used to make packaging more sustainable. Based on the circular economy conce...

Health claims can inform consumers about important nutritional qualities of food products that would otherwise go unnoticed, and influence consumer choice. This chapter reviews consumer behaviour literature related to health claims, and discusses this in the context of the EU legislation. It addresses the influence of textual as well as pictorial h...

Disconfirmations between consumers’ expectations and a product's actual properties can lead to different responses in consumers. Most researchers study these responses focusing on the final judgement of the product. However, looking at consumers’ physiological responses like those of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) could help complement what is...

The images shown on food packaging play an important role in the processes of identification, categorisation and the generation of expectations, since the consumer uses the images to infer information about the product. However, a given image may convey different meanings (e.g. in a food package, “fire” may mean barbecued or spicy), so it is very i...

The packaging of a product is a key element in the communication between producers and consumers, so getting the consumer to interpret the packaging visual signs in the desired way is crucial to be successful in the marketplace. However, this is not easy as images can be ambiguous and may be interpreted in different ways. For example, depicting an...

This study explores the performance of Ethiopian seed systems from a customer’s perspective. The study builds on the view that seed supply systems perform marketing functions such as developing new varieties of seed, multiplying the right quantity and quality, and distributing to the right places, at the right time, for an acceptable price. Hence,...

Vending machines often provide relatively energy-dense snack foods and beverages at a wide variety of points-of-purchase. Vending-machine interventions that stimulate low-calorie choices can therefore play a role in improving the healthfulness of the food environment landscape. The aim of this study is to examine the effects of four vending-machine...

During the last decade, food waste has become an object of interest for both scholars and society. The existence of cosmetic specifications regarding the physical appearance of foods in the food supply chains is considered to be one of the important causes of food waste. The relevant aesthetic standards concern the product's weight, shape, and size...

"Nudges" refers to a variety of simple changes in consumers' choice environment done in such a way that the desired individual choice (e.g., the healthy choice) becomes more likely. Nudging is supposed to work by appealing to consumers' heuristic cues and biases in decision-making. Nudging research to change consumer behavior for the good has been...

Insights into how consumer attitudes toward nanotechnology are formed and develop are crucial for understanding and anticipating possible barriers in consumer acceptance of nanotechnology applications. In this study, the influence of affect and cognition on overall opinion is investigated longitudinally for emerging nanotechnologies, and compared w...

This article presents a conceptual framework that aims to encourage consumer animal-friendly product choice by introducing positioning strategies for animal-friendly products. These strategies reinforce the animal welfare with different types of consumption values and can therefore reduce consumers' social dilemma, which is a major barrier to anima...

It is unclear whether the responses of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) can measure how people respond to food. Results focused on emotional responses are contradictory; therefore, the focus has shifted to other components of emotion, such as appraisals. The aim of this study was, therefore, to evaluate the differences in ANS responses related to...

Consumer choices are often influenced by the default option presented. This study examines the effect of whole wheat bread as a default option in a sandwich choice situation. Whole wheat bread consists of 100% whole grain and is healthier than other bread types that are commonly consumed, such as brown or white bread. A pilot survey (N = 291) exami...

The purpose of this study is to identify the specific marketing activities that contribute most to the performance improvement of seed producer cooperatives (SPCs) in Ethiopia. Both quantitative and qualitative procedures were adopted to extract information from knowledgeable and experienced experts using structured questionnaires. Results indicate...

The positive effects of market orientation and its components on firm performance are empirically supported by studies conducted for large firms in developed economies. However, its influence on performance in developing and emerging (D&E) economies, particularly under a cooperative's context, has been under-researched. This paper examines the impa...

Objectives: This study identifies how the interaction between temporal distance, regulatory focus, and framing of health outcomes affects individuals' intention to adopt a personalized nutrition service. Design: A 2 (temporal distance: immediate health outcomes vs. delayed health outcomes) × 2 (regulatory focus: prevention vs. promotion) × 2 (he...

People's responses to products and/or choice environments are crucial to understanding in-store consumer behaviors. Currently, there are various approaches (e.g., surveys or laboratory settings) to study in-store behaviors, but the external validity of these is limited by their poor capability to resemble realistic choice environments. In addition,...

Purpose Next to organic food products, an assortment of ethical products is emerging in the supermarket that targets the large market segment of consumers that are open for ethical product choices but do not restrict themselves to them. The purpose of this paper is to examine the positioning strategies that marketers use to persuade consumers in th...

An increasing number of the 600 million African smallholders are becoming integrated into the supply chains of supermarkets, fast food chains, and exporters. This process gradually transforms the smallholders into profit-oriented businesses that can make important contributions to rural development and food security. This article brings this issue...

Self-report measures rely on cognitive and rational processes and may not, therefore, be the most suitable tools to investigate implicit or unconscious factors within a sensory experience. The responses from the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which are not susceptible to bias due to their involuntary nature, may provide a better insight. Expectati...

Building on theories of cue utilization, this paper investigates whether and how packaging sustainability influences consumer perceptions, inferences and attitudes towards packaged products. A framework is tested in an empirical study among 249 students using soup products varying in packaging material and graphics. The findings show that (packagin...

To reduce poverty, policy makers in developing and emerging markets have tried to connect producers at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) to high-income markets. With supermarkets and exporters stretching their influence in these markets, policy makers can build their policies on the arrangements that companies offer to BoP producers. Although prior s...

The role of seed producer cooperatives (SPCs) in the Ethiopian seed sector and their contribution to seed supply improvement have received attention from researchers, policymakers, and development partners. However, limited work has been done in reviewing and documenting their involvement in the seed sector development. In this paper, we review and...

This paper replicates the gender-effect on object of loyalty found by Melnyk et al. (2009), suggesting that females are more loyal towards individuals and males are more loyal to groups and organizations. Results from Benin (West Africa) support this but find that the results mostly pertain to informal sectors of the economy. Survey results from ma...

Objective: This study identifies how autonomous and controlled motivation moderates the cognitive process that drives the adoption of personalised nutrition services. The cognitive process comprises perceptions of privacy risk, personalisation benefit, and their determinants. Design: Depending on their level of autonomous and controlled motivati...

In recent years, marketing education has broadened to poor people in developing and emerging countries. In this article, the authors use four empirical studies that apply well-established training design procedures to design a marketing training program for Ethiopian pastoralists. Because pastoralists operate in extremely remote, traditional, and s...