Effects of dietary restraint on perceived healthfulness and purchase intention: the moderating effects of food type and product label

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate genetically modified food labeling effects on dietary restrained consumers’ perception and purchase intention based upon various labels and food type – whole versus processed. Design/methodology/approach A 2 (food type: whole vs processed) × 2 (product label: genetically modified organism [GMO] vs nongenetically modified organism [non-GMO]) research design was used in two steps. In the first step, the authors distributed 1,000 surveys, of which 858 surveys were used, and in the second step, the authors distributed 1,000 surveys and were able to use 891 surveys. Findings Results show that respondents with higher levels of dietary restraint have higher levels of perceived healthfulness. In addition, respondents with higher perceived healthfulness levels have a higher level of purchase intention for whole/GMO products, whole/non-GMO products, processed/GMO products and processed/non-GMO products. Moreover, the results show that individuals have higher purchase intention for whole/non-GMO than the whole/GMO products, whole/GMO than the processed/non-GMO products and processed/non-GMO than the processed/GMO products. Research limitations/implications A future longitudinal study with assigned tracking numbers is suggested. Given that four different blocks were randomized, comparing data among individual participants would be interesting, as the ability to compare responses would be feasible among the four separate blocks. Originality/value The results of this study may assist the government in policy development, food manufacturers in labeling techniques used and consumers by increasing transparency and information availability.