Measuring the Effect of Blockchain Extrinsic Cues on Consumers’ Perceived Flavor and Healthiness: A Cross-Country Analysis

Many studies in the related literature have proven that the perception of flavor and healthiness can be affected by both the product’s intrinsic and extrinsic cues. Package designs, brands, colors, labels and other visual elements exert and influence consumers’ expectations and guide them toward food decisions. With the increasing initiatives promoted within Europe in support of the adoption of blockchain technology in supply chains and agri-food contexts, in the coming years, packages will be used with additional product information certified with the technology itself. Cueing packages with blockchain-certified information could affect consumers in their overall flavor and health perceptions, similarly to that previously demonstrated with other extrinsic cues. In the present study, we analyzed a sample of 310 primary grocery shoppers from Germany, Italy and the UK, demonstrating the effectiveness of technology-certified information on the package of animal milk in influencing consumers’ flavor and health perceptions and exploring the differences and similarities across the three countries and milk categories.