The Dilemma of the Sustainable Development of Agricultural Product Brands and the Construction of Trust: An Empirical Study Based on Consumer Psychological Mechanisms

Xinwei Liu, Xiaoyang Qiao, Yongwei Chen () and Maowei Chen ()
Additional contact information
Xinwei Liu: Department of Global Convergence, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon-si 24341, Republic of Korea
Xiaoyang Qiao: Department of Global Convergence, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon-si 24341, Republic of Korea
Yongwei Chen: Department of Design and Art, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang 330013, China
Maowei Chen: Department of Global Convergence, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon-si 24341, Republic of Korea

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 20, 1-39

Abstract: In the context of China’s increasingly competitive agricultural product branding, authenticity has become a pivotal mechanism for shaping consumer trust and willingness to pay. This study takes Perceived Brand Authenticity (PBA) as its focal construct and builds a chained mediation framework incorporating experiential quality (EQ) and consumer trust. Employing a dual-evidence strategy that combines structural discovery and causal validation, the study integrates Jaccard similarity clustering and PLS-SEM to examine both behavioral patterns and psychological mechanisms. Drawing on 636 valid survey responses from across China, the results reveal clear segmentation in channel choice, certification concern, and premium acceptance by gender, age, income, and education. Younger and highly educated consumers rely more on e-commerce and digital traceability, while middle-aged, older, and higher-income groups emphasize geographical indications and organic certification. The empirical analysis confirms that PBA has a significant positive effect on EQ and consumer trust, and that the chained mediation pathway “PBA → EQ → Trust → Purchase Intention” robustly captures the transmission mechanism of authenticity. The findings demonstrate that verifiable and consistent authenticity signals not only shape cross-group consumption structures but also strengthen trust and repurchase intentions through enhanced experiential quality. The core contribution of this study lies in advancing an evidence-based framework for sustainable agricultural branding. Theoretically, it reconceptualizes authenticity as a measurable governance mechanism rather than a rhetorical construct. Methodologically, it introduces a dual-evidence approach integrating Jaccard clustering and PLS-SEM to bridge structural and causal analyses. Practically, it proposes two governance tools—“evidence density” and “experiential variance”—which translate authenticity into actionable levers for precision marketing, trust management, and policy regulation. Together, these insights offer a replicable model for authenticity governance and consumer trust building in sustainable agri-food systems.

Keywords: brand perception authenticity; experience quality; consumer trust; willingness to pay; PLS-SEM/Jaccard similarity analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/20/9029/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/20/9029/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:20:p:9029-:d:1769377

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().