New publication: Exploring Consumer Intention to Purchase Blockchain-Traced Pasta

Within the ALLIANCE project, one of the key roles of the University of Bologna is to explore consumers’ views of products with innovative traceability systems, and to identify the main socio-cultural aspects which determine consumers’ choices related to those products. It is in this context that we carried out a study to explore consumers’ purchase intentions for organic pasta with blockchain-based traceability.

The research carried out by the team of the Agricultural and Food Science Department of the University of Bologna analyses the responses of 190 Italian consumers who completed an online survey. The results were initially presented at the 11th International Conference on Information & Communication Technologies in Agriculture, Food and Environment (HAICTA 2024) in October 2024, and subsequently published in the scientific journal “Bio-based and Applied Economics (BAE)”.

We know that consumers are concerned about food safety, traceability and transparency, and that consumer trust is declining, especially in complex food supply chains. In this context, blockchain technology can be an asset as it can provide a decentralized and immutable product history record. This is why blockchain is one of the key technologies used in the ALLIANCE pilot demonstrators. While blockchain technology’s potential to improve traceability and trust is widely recognized among professionals, it is still unclear whether consumers perceive its advantages.

This research study, led by Dr. Giulia Maesano, investigated how attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, trust in quality certifications, and attitudes toward technology shape purchase intentions for blockchain-based food. To explore the factors influencing consumer purchase intentions in the context of blockchain-traced organic pasta, the team applied an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model. Findings reveal that subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and positive attitudes toward technology significantly influence purchase intention. In contrast, this research did not find a direct impact of trust in quality certifications and general attitudes toward blockchain traceability on consumers’ purchase intentions. This suggests that blockchain traceability does not yet align with traditional trust markers in consumers’ minds.

Therefore, the team recommends that policymakers and producers consider strategies that focus on simplifying blockchain product accessibility, enhancing social endorsement, and educating consumers about blockchain’s added value for transparency and food safety. These measures can better support blockchain adoption in the agri-food sector and improve trust, traceability, and product authenticity.

For further details, the full paper is available (open access) on the journal's website. Furthermore, it can also be found, together with all the scientific publications related to the ALLIANCE project, on the dedicated page in the Zenodo repository.