The reputation of the German agricultural and food industry

The German agricultural and food industry is increasingly viewed critically by society due to incidents such as the dioxin and BSE scandals. The ISN, DBV and BVE associations see a need for action and are planning image campaigns to improve the reputation of both sectors. This paper examines whether reputation influences consumer behaviour and thus justifies an image campaign. Influencing factors on the reputation of the agricultural and food industry and the effects of the construct are analysed using the partial least squares method. The results show that trust in the agribusiness sector is very high compared to other sectors. In contrast, the credibility of the food industry is perceived as slightly negative and that of agriculture as positive. Only the affective dimension of trust and the functional component of animal welfare influence the reputation of agriculture. The reputation of agriculture has a very high influence on the reputation of the food industry, which in turn has no significant influence on the variables of consumer behaviour.