Impacts of situational factors on process attribute uses for food purchases

•We test situational factors on the importance of process-related factors across two food products.•Importance of process-related factors depends on perceived naturalness and situational factors.•Priming increases importance of process-related factors for those low in value centrality.•Without time pressure interest in process-related factors rises when value centrality is high.

Consumer buying decisions for food reflect considerations about food production.However, consumers' interest in process-related product characteristics does not always translate into buying intentions. The present study investigates how situational factors affect the use of process-related considerations when consumers select food products. A conjoint study provides estimated part worth utilities for product alternatives that differ on five product attributes (including four process-related factors) across two products (bread and sports drink) that differ on perceived naturalness. The investigation of the utilities of the process-related attributes features both an internal (priming of environmental values/value centrality) and an external (time pressure) situational factor. The results indicate that the importance of process-related attributes is product specific and also depends on situational factors.