Nutritional Label and Consumer Buying Decision: A Preliminary Review

A review of literatures reveals that many empirical researches on nutritional label in relation with consumer buying decision process have been carried out over the last twenty years. Nonetheless, the extent on how the concept of nutritional label was defined and used in the studies on food product buying decision tends to be varied from one study to another. Furthermore, the role of nutritional label in food product buying decision has not been made clear. This paper is presented with the aim to summarise and draw the common definition of nutritional label found in the previous studies. Beside that, this paper also discusses the types of label formats that could influence the use of nutritional label amongst consumers. In addition, the paper also rationalises the roles of nutritional label in consumer decision in buying healthy foods and highlights the relevant issues for future research undertakings.