The Role of Trust in European Food Chains: Theory and Empirical Findings

In Europe, consumer trust in food has become one of the most important factors for the stability of the food sector. An essential prerequisite for the ability to communicate the trustworthiness of food to consumers (B2C) is the creation, maintenance, and communication of trust between companies across the entire food value chain (B2B). For the management and preservation of trust in food chains it is important to know whether differences occur across European countries or whether distinct product chains show variations regarding trust. Based on a survey in five European countries with 747 respondents, this paper assesses the current level of trust between companies together with its influencing structural factors in European food chains and determines criteria allowing the active management of the level of trust in business relations in food chains by estimating a structural equation model