Trust building in livestock farmers: an exploratory study

Abstract

Increased incidents of food poisoning in recent years have greatly shaken consumers’ confidence in food. Livestock farmers are among the least trusted parties in the food supply chain. Building trust between consumers and livestock farmers is critical in order to maintain benefit to both parties. In this context, this paper attempts to explore the process on how trust is developed. By adopting stepwise multiple regression, a conceptual model was tested with 182 respondents. Empirical results showed that trustful information, care for consumers, honesty and fairness to consumers are important to building trust during the period of food safety concerns. Suggestions for future research together with implications for livestock farmers are given.