The market effectiveness of regulatory certification for sustainable food supply: A conjoint analysis approach

The commitment to sustainability follows the consensus of adopting integrated governance to mitigate uncertainty about the whole food system. Thus, a coherent intermediary framework emerges in response to the food system crisis, pledging a “farm to fork” regulatory certification with enhanced credibility and reduced search cost compared with the fragmented intermediation. Yet, the institutional practice is scarce, and the market effectiveness remains underexamined. Drawing upon the heuristic-systematic model from the dual-process theory, this research builds the view of sustainable choice as a hierarchical decision process. The regulatory certification enacts an easy but reliable heuristic judgment, establishing an adaptive base for further systematic decisions. Specifically, common barriers (such as the status quo bias and price sensitivity) to sustainable action are not firmly established as typically assumed; instead, consumer reluctance to action arises from the lacking of a dominant heuristic. Consumers with an available regulatory certification experience less difficult trade-offs and have stronger preferences for technology innovation, such as digital production for food industry 4.0. Potentially, the segment that values regulatory certification as the crucial heuristic accounts for approximately 50%. This research provides insightful implications on how governance reforms spark a shift to sustainable food supply and the market effectiveness of inviting consumers to join the initiatives.