Keywords

1 Introduction

During the past years several food crises have occurred [1, 2], with serious impact on human health [3] and economies [4], underlining the great importance of food security, safety and quality. Towards this direction, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN recommends implementing efficient logistics arrangements and traceability to ensure food safety, increase efficiency and reduce loss [5].

According to the regulation of the European Parliament [6], traceability means “the ability to trace and follow a food, feed, food-producing animal or substance intended to be, or expected to be incorporated into a food or feed, through all stages of production, processing and distribution”. Traceability also means the use of technologies (such as IoT, Cloud computing, RFID, QR-code, Blockchain) in order to track and share information about a product in every stage of the supply chain [7, 8]. These technologies enable consumers to access all the above information easily through their mobile phones. Finally, traceability in the food supply chain means the development and use of a food safety information system, powered by digital technologies and health and safety quality assurance systems (such ISO, HACCP etc.) in order to achieve internal and external traceability and information exchange in every part of the supply chain [9]. All the above will overcome consumers’ concerns about the ability of traceability systems to guarantee food safety [1] and eventually lead to the improvement of confidence in the food system, which is currently low [10, 11].

A number of studies indicate that food traceability has become increasingly important [e.g. 3, 4, 12, 13] and highlight the need for empirical studies that will examine consumers’ perceptions, as well as the factors that affect their purchase of traceable food [2, 10, 14, 15]. Moreover, due to differences in consumer culture, purchasing preferences and consumption habits [1], such studies in different countries and continents shall contribute to the better understanding of the topic.

Based on the above, the aim of this paper is to investigate the Greek consumers’ perceptions about traceability in the food supply chain through an online structured questionnaire.

2 Research Purpose, Questions and Methodology

Exploring consumers’ perceptions about traceability in the food supply chain is an area of growing interest among researchers, who are trying to determine and analyze the factors that influence consumers’ behavior concerning traceable food.

Therefore, the objective of this research is to investigate the Greek consumers’ perceptions about traceability in the food supply chain, trying to answer the following three questions: RQ1: which factors affect the Greek consumers’ overall perceptions about traceability in the food supply chain, RQ2: what is the level of intention to purchase traceable food and RQ3: which factors influence their behavior in purchasing traceable food. The theoretical model of the research was based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), as modified and used by previous studies [2, 12, 16, 17].

The method chosen was an online survey with the use of a structured online questionnaire. It consisted of questions about demographic characteristics and overall consumers’ perceptions on food traceability, as well as questions about the constructs of our model, measured with a five-point Likert scale. Cronbach’s alpha reliability test was conducted and showed values greater than 70% (up to 91%) for all the constructs of our model, resulting in a high degree of internal consistency and reliability. The sample of the research was randomly chosen and consisted of individuals—consumers aged above 17. The research was conducted in April–May 2023 and a total number of 222 valid responses were gathered and used for further processing.

From the sample, 140 (63.1%) were females and 82 (36.9%) males. As for the age, 64 (28.8%) were between 17 and 24 years old, 112 (50.4%) were between 25 and 39, 39 (17.6%) were between 40 and 54 and 7 (3.2%) were between 55 and 64 years old. Regarding level of education, 46 (20.7%) finished secondary education and 26 (11.7%) post-secondary education, while 88 (39.6%) have a university degree, 61 (27.5%) a master’s degree and 1 (0.5%) a PhD.

3 Research Findings and Discussion

Concerning the overall perceptions on food traceability (Table 1), consumers seem to look only for some basic information (e.g. area of origin, ingredients and nutritional value) when they purchase food, and not for information about the producer, the production process or the transportation and storage conditions. Furthermore, a high percentage of the respondents rarely scan the QR-code to access product information, a result that is also highlighted in similar studies [e.g. 15] and pointed out as an issue for further research, especially on consumer acceptance and perceived usefulness of QR-code use [18]. At the same time, consumers argue that they can understand the information included on food products packaging, but they do not feel adequately covered with this information. Furthermore and contrary to other studies [1], consumers do not think that food that provides all this information is more expensive than others.

Table 1 Overall perceptions on food traceability
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From a cross-tabulation analysis between age groups and overall perceptions, it is found that consumers between 25 and 39 look more often -comparing to the other age groups- for information about the producer, area of origin, method of cultivation/production, ingredients, nutritional value, as well as the transportation and storage conditions. They also scan more often the QR-code to access information about a product. At the same time, a similar analysis between gender and overall perceptions showed that women -comparing to men- focus more on information about the ingredients, area of origin and method of cultivation/production, whereas men on information about the producer, as well as the transportation and storage conditions. Moreover they use the QR-code more frequently to access product information, have a stronger belief that a food providing all the information is more expensive and feel more covered with information included on food products packaging, while women seem more confident that they understand this information.

The next step of our analysis refers to the responses concerning the constructs of our model. Beginning with attitude, consumers show a strong positive attitude towards buying traceable food (confirming the study of Menozzi et al. [12]) and find it pleasant, good idea, important, useful and beneficial (Table 2).

Table 2 Attitude towards buying traceable food
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As far as the subjective norm is concerned, respondents seem neutral about the influence of other people on their buying traceable food. Additionally, they are not sure if most consumers like them buy traceable food (Table 3).

Table 3 Subjective norm towards buying traceable food
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Regarding trust towards information provided/included in traceable food (Table 4), respondents (in contrast to the study of Zhao et al. [14]) agree that the information provided in traceable food is valid, precise, reliable and trustworthy. There is also a strong belief that a food product with a quality certificate is more trustworthy than others.

Table 4 Trust about information in traceable food
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As far as perceived behavioral control is concerned, respondents stated that they could buy traceable food often if they wanted to and had higher income. However, they seem rather neutral about the ease of buying traceable food (Table 5).

Table 5 Perceived behavioral control regarding purchase of traceable food
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Despite the positive attitude towards buying traceable food, consumers’ intention to buy traceable food is rather low, taking into account the answers provided in Table 6.

Table 6 Intention to buy traceable food
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As a result and concerning the last construct of the model (behavior), consumers are not used to buying traceable food and they don’t buy it on a regular basis (Table 7).

Table 7 Behavior towards purchase of traceable food
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Finally, the Spearman’s Rho test showed statistically significant and positive correlations between attitude and intention (r = ,571, p < 0.01), subjective norm and intention (r = ,446, p < 0.01), trust and intention (r = ,230, p < 0.01) perceived behavioral control and intention (r = ,394, p < 0.01), perceived behavioral control and behavior (r = ,504, p < 0.01), intention and behavior (r = ,522, p < 0.01).

4 Conclusions and Suggestions for Further Research

Traceability in food supply chain is an issue of growing interest, with topics and challenges that need further study, such as the development, adoption and use of traceability systems and technologies, as well as the investigation of consumers’ perceptions.

The findings from the present research indicate that Greek consumers’ perceptions about traceability in the food supply chain influence their intention and behavior in buying traceable food. However, consumers seem to look only for some basic information when they purchase food and rarely scan the QR-code to access the information. They also feel uncertain about the completeness of information provided by the food products packaging and have a positive attitude concerning traceable food. Moreover, attitude, subjective norm, trust and perceived behavioral control influence positively -but rather weakly- their intention to buy traceable food. The study also reveals that the perceived behavioral control affects the customers’ behavior in buying traceable food, as well as consumers’ intention to buy traceable food influences their behavior in buying traceable food.

The study contributes to the scientific knowledge on a research field of a great importance for the health and safety of consumers. Moreover, it provides results which can be used by academic researchers to study and explore food traceability in a national context and question or validate results from similar empirical studies in international context. Finally, the outcomes of the study may help managers of the food sector to better understand consumers’ perceptions about food traceability and to formulate their strategy accordingly. Future research may apply an extended version of the model, taking into account factors such as consumer expertise on recognizing and purchasing traceable food, consumption habits, perceived health and sustainability benefits etc., in order to have a more complete coverage of the subject. Finally, a future research may be conducted in a form of cross-country analysis, in order to examine if there are differences in perceptions among consumers with different culture and consuming preferences.