Food Care During Production (Human)

What it measures

The scale captures comparative judgments of human involvement in food production, asking respondents to identify which of two products received greater hands-on human care. It speaks to a growing consumer interest in provenance, where a human touch during production is often read as a signal of higher quality or authenticity than automation.

Response format

7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)

Scale items

• Which food received more human care when it was produced?
• Which food received more human attention when it was produced?
• Which food was neglected by a human (i.e., not cared for by a human) during the production process?

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Suher, Szocs, and van Ittersum (2021) appear to have created this scale themselves; no external source was stated. It was used across three studies/pretests with alphas ranging .86–.89. Formal validity testing wasn't conducted, though its successful use as a manipulation check in one study offers some indirect support.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Suher, J., Szocs, C., & van Ittersum, K. (2021). When Imperfect is Preferred: The Differential Effect of Aesthetic Imperfections on Choice of Processed and Unprocessed Foods. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 49(5), 903–924.

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