Ana Lanero

Despite the growing awareness of the need to promote the consumption of organic food, consumers have difficulties in correctly identifying it in the market, making frequent cognitive mistakes in the evaluation of products identified by sustainability labels and claims. This work analyzes the halo effect and the source credibility bias in the interpretation of product attributes based on third-party certified labels. It is hypothesized that, regardless of their specific meaning, official labels lead consumers to infer higher environmental sustainability, quality and price of the product, due to the credibility attributed to the certifying entity. It also examines the extent to which providing the consumer with accurate labeling information helps prevent biased heuristic thinking. An experimental between-subject study was performed with a sample of 412 Spanish business students and data were analyzed using partial least squares. Findings revealed that consumers tend to infer environmental superiority and, consequently, higher quality in products identified by both organic and non-organic certified labels, due to their credibility. Label credibility was also associated with price inferences, to a greater extent than the meaning attributed to the label. Interestingly, providing accurate information did not avoid biased heuristic thinking in product evaluation.

In order to reduce the asymmetry of knowledge between producers and consumers, many organizations promote the use of eco-labels certified by independent third parties, with the purpose of identifying those products or services that have minor impact on the environment throughout their entire life cycle. However, since there are currently a high number of ethical labels and claims and consumers are usually confused about their real meaning. This research is intended to analyze whether consumers attribute organic properties to products identified by third-party certified eco-labels to the same extent that to other third-party certified sustainability labels and other non-certified organic claims. A survey study was carried out with a sample of 200 university business students and ANOVA analysis was used to verify differences in the meaning attributed to different labels. In general terms, the results of the study allow to conclude that consumers do not have a precise knowledge about the meaning of different sustainability dimensions certified by official seals, nor do they know how to differentiate them from non-certified advertising claims. One of the main practical implications of this work has to do with the critical analysis of the effectiveness of Community regulations on eco-labelling and green advertising claims.

Consumers are often overexposed to sustainability symbols and claims on food product packages and find it difficult to accurately judge their meaning when making purchase decisions. Based on the heuristic-systematic model (HSM), this paper aims to identify cognitive mechanisms to reduce the heuristic credibility of organic advertising claims and to increase the motivation for searching for more reliable information when making product judgements. Particularly, we hypothesize that knowledge and defense and accuracy motivations affect organic claim credibility, which in turn is related to organic product judgement. Data collected from an experimental between-subject study with a sample of 412 Spanish undergraduates was analyzed using partial least squares. The results indicated that claim credibility was directly related to the attribution of organic properties to products, and was affected by defense motivation especially when appropriate knowledge was not available. Improving consumers’ knowledge reduced organic claim credibility and triggered a positive effect of accuracy motivation on credibility. The findings stress the importance of improving the regulation of ambitious advertising claims and developing specific educational campaigns to empower consumers and prevent biased purchase decisions of organic products.

Nowadays, companies around the world have engaged in an increasing number of CSR practices. This tendency is expected to continue growing up, becoming a mainstream global issue more and more relevant to business organizations in forthcoming years due to two main reasons. Companies are pretty concerned about advertising their ethical practices, on one side, in order to consolidate their involvement with collective demands of current societies and send a signal to the various stakeholders with whom they interact, and on the other, to differentiate their product offer and achieve competitive advantage in an increasingly globalized marketplace. In this sense, considering both lines together, customers maybe entail the most important group since they are the only ones to create income for companies. Based on this, this study analyses the importance of CSR for consumers in the food sector in reference to seven major CSR activities envisioned to fulfil seven stakeholders’ expectations considering three demographic variables of consumers. For that purpose, it is conducted a survey study with a total sample of 1,752 consumers and a multivariate analysis of variance to perform an intra-group comparison. In general, findings support a moderate impact of CSR over respondents, while some discrepancies can be observed between them within different age groups. Lastly, a final discussion is carried out gathering some interest considerations as direct reflection of results obtained and further lines of future research are indicated.

Although safety in aviation has increased exponentially in recent decades, sadly, plane crashes will always be associated with the operation of the aviation world. The efforts should be directed towards the pursuit of “zero accidents”, providing aircrews with the necessary resources to minimize risks. One of the most important flight operation resources used in aviation is the checklist. However, when faced with an emergency, the crew cannot always make use of them, either because the huge diversity of potential emergencies does not allow to collect all of them in these manuals, or because the time available to react is so short that it makes it impossible to utilize them. This paper shows how aircraft checklists are a necessary but insufficient tool to solve complex, unpredictable, and novel emergencies. Furthermore, based on successfully solved critical events, the authors suggest the implementation of specific techniques for the learning and development of problem-solving programs focused on innovation and divergent thinking to decision making, as part of flight training, in order to increase the crews’ capability to face such emergencies.

Based on a self-selection perspective, this study analyzes the relation between personal civic engagement and the willingness to join a voluntary association by considering the mediating role of motivations. Four factors of civic engagement are considered: civic duty, civic skills, social connection, and civic participation; in addition, three motivations are considered: instrumental, expressive, and career-related. The proposed model is tested using a survey of 408 Spanish young adults with no previous experience as members of any association. The analytical technique used is partial least squares. The findings point that instrumental motivation is the main vehicle to translate the four factors of civic engagement into associational involvement, whereas expressive motivation represents a secondary mediator in the effects of civic duty and social connection. Career-related motivation is not associated with the willingness to join a voluntary association. Implications for the recruitment and retention of young adults in voluntary associations are discussed.