How to Make Non-Natural Products Appear More Natural? Changes in Process Work Better Than Changes in Content

Abstract

This article aims to study the factors that contribute to increasing the naturalness of non-natural products. An experimental survey investigates the influence of product process and content modifications. Our results support the process dominance hypothesis by showing that process modification increase more naturalness ratings than content modification. In addition, changes in process (but not changes in content) induce a positive halo that alters how other product attributes are assessed (e.g., health perceived risk, expected effectiveness). The relationship between process modification and naturalness judgments is mediated by the perceived transformation, origin and appearance of the product.