Antecedents and consequences of consumers' perception of product naturalness: Ameta-analysis

Abstract: In the post-pandemic era, consumers have shown growing concerns for the environment, health, and safety, driving a significant surge in demand for natural products. However, what factors prompt consumers to perceive a product as natural? And how are consumers’ responses shaped after forming such perceptions? Existing literature lacks a systematic synthesis and clear classification of the factors influencing Perceived Product Naturalness (PPN), with inconsistent findings regarding the relative effectiveness of different cues. PPN is defined as consumers’ subjective judgment of whether a product is unprocessed by humans, free of non-natural ingredients, and directly derived from nature.Using a meta-analytic approach, this study synthesizes domestic and international empirical studies conducted over the past 20 years. We compare the relative effectiveness of heuristic cues versus systematic cues in shaping PPN, and further examine their overall impacts on consumer responses as well as the boundary conditions of these effects. A total of 59 articles and 229 effect sizes were included in the analysis. The results show that systematic cues outperform heuristic cues overall; consumer individual characteristics, product attributes, and situational factors all moderate the effectiveness of these cues. These findings provide practical implications for the strategic configuration of natural marketing cues and the guidance of consumer decision-making.