Three issues in consumer quality perception and acceptance of dairy products

It is argued that consumer quality perception of dairy products is characte rised by four major dimensions: hedonic, health-related, convenience-relate d and process-related quality. Two of these, viz., health and process-relat ed quality, are credence dimensions, i.e. a matter of consumer trust in com munication provided. Drawing on five different empirical studies on consume r quality perception of dairy products, three issues related to the communi cation on credence quality dimensions are discussed: providing credible inf ormation, the role of consumer attitudes, and inference processes in qualit y perception. Organic products, functional products, and products involving genetic modification are used as examples. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.