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The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between risk characteristics, risk perception and future travel intention in the context of food safety risk.

This research used a structured questionnaire administered to a convenience sample of 715 participants. By using structural equation modelling method, a travel intention framework was successfully developed to test the impact of characteristics of food safety risk on perception of risk, and subsequently on travel intention. In addition, the framework was also tested and compared with different demographic groups.

The research confirms that the characteristics of risk have impact on the two dimensions of perception of risk, namely, likelihood of occurrence and consequence of occurrence in turn travel intention. Furthermore, characteristics of risk affect demographic groups differently.

The finding of this study offers insight into the distinct effects between the two dimensions, namely, likelihood and consequence of risk perception and each dimension consists of different loss components and has different effect on travel intention.

The framework provides insight to the government and travel industry that risk perception is a paramount issue for travellers when making destination decision. As such, the government and travel industry should take action to prevent the occurrence of food risk and to reduce the severity consequence of the risk when it occurs.

This research is one of the few studies generating new insights into perception of food safety risk in international tourism from the social science and marketing perspective.

Consumer perception of a harmful and hazardous food risk and the strategies to reduce the exposure to such a risk are examined. A survey of 172 respondents confirmed the perceived risk theory and risk reducing strategies commonly used for the downside risk, and that expectations of negative utility are relevant to understand consumer perception of food safety risk. This study also shows that consumers are able to assess the uncertainty and the negative consequence of a perceived hazardous risk, and take action to reduce their exposure to the perceived risk. The findings seem to support the quality assurance scheme, useful information, brand, or product origin, which are the important risk reducing strategies of microbiological risk. Being a pilot study, this framework should be tested by using a product with which the risk is perceived to be beyond the control of consumers.

Increased incidents of food poisoning in recent years have greatly shaken consumers’ confidence in food. Livestock farmers are among the least trusted parties in the food supply chain. Building trust between consumers and livestock farmers is critical in order to maintain benefit to both parties. In this context, this paper attempts to explore the process on how trust is developed. By adopting stepwise multiple regression, a conceptual model was tested with 182 respondents. Empirical results showed that trustful information, care for consumers, honesty and fairness to consumers are important to building trust during the period of food safety concerns. Suggestions for future research together with implications for livestock farmers are given.

Consumer risk perception plays an important role during periods of food safety concern because it shapes the behaviour of consumers. Multi‐dimensional analysis helps to provide a thorough understanding of consumer‐perceived risk. A survey of 172 respondents was carried out to investigate the importance of individual loss components and the differences between sociodemographic characteristics regarding microbiological risk in chicken meat. The results suggest that health loss is the most important component followed by psychological, financial, time and taste losses. All these loss components were found to be significantly different between degree and non‐degree holders, while long‐term health and social losses were different within gender and age groups respectively. The findings in the study of microbiological risk in chicken meat are likely to be applicable to other food safety related risks.

Food safety is an important issue facing consumers, the food industry and the government. Since consumers cannot themselves easily assess food safety risks, their perception of food safety is, in part, a matter of trust in the food chain. This study seeks to focus on livestock farmers and to investigate the causal relationship between the factors that determine consumer trust, regarding food safety and in turn their purchase likelihood.

By integrating theories developed in several disciplines, six factors, namely: providing information, competence, integrity, benevolence, credibility, and reliability were adopted for this study. The conceptual model was tested with a sample of 194 individuals in the form of a structural equation model using LISREL 8.30.

The research confirms that livestock farmers could draw benefit from strategies to increase their trustworthiness through provision of information, show their benevolence and integrity to consumers, and in turn positively influence consumers' purchasing decision.

Livestock farmers should understand more specifically what consumers want to know and provide accurate and reliable information.

This exploratory study provides a useful insight into the potential benefit from trust building that could be derived by livestock farmers, food safety regulators and the food supply chain as a whole, as well as the ways in which this might be achieved.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the incorporation of marketing elements into consumer risk coping strategies affects consumer purchase decision during periods of food safety concern.

This research used a structured questionnaire administered to a convenience sample of 216 respondents. By using logistic regression, a consumer risk coping framework incorporating marketing strategies was successfully developed to test the impact of brand and quality assurance, price reduction, availability in all stores and endorsement from an independent organization, which may not act alone but combine with each other during food purchase.

The research confirms that consumers adopt risk coping strategies in time of food risk concern and their coping strategies include marketing elements such as brand and quality assurance, price reduction, availability in all stores and endorsement from an independent organization.

The framework helps marketers to predict the effect of their marketing plan by incorporating consumers' risk coping strategies, in turn to improve consumers' purchase intention when perceived food safety risk exists.

This research demonstrates how marketers can incorporate marketing strategies in a consumer risk coping framework, in order to provide an insight for the industry to evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing strategies in times of food safety concern.

Adapting from the extant literature, this paper aims to present an empirical framework of risk measurement in the context of food safety risk in overseas destinations.

Data were collected from 715 respondents visiting Macau in October 2008 by using intercept method. Principal component analysis followed by confirmatory factor analysis were utilised for data analysis.

The research yielded 12 factors, of which five factors, namely Dread, Framing effect, Controllable, Regulation and Past experience measure risk characteristics; two factors, namely Uncertainty and Consequence measure tourist risk perception, and five factors, namely Travel information, Safety assurance, Destination reputation, Marketing activities and Precaution measure risk reduction, especially related to food safety risk in international destinations.

The tourist industry should understand more specifically what tourists want to know so as to devise appropriate communication management strategies at the international destination.

The risk measurement framework provides an insight for the development of an instrument to assess the social and economic impact on tourist perception of international travel risk.

Organic food represents the fastest growing sector in the food market, with outstanding performance in both production and sales. However, existing studies on organic food have lacked a strong theoretical foundation. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships among purchase intention and the properties, certification mechanisms, retail channels, and prices of organic food from multiple theoretical perspectives.

Using a rigorous sampling design, 507 valid questionnaires collected from consumers at four well-known organic food markets, and the hypotheses were tested based on a linear structural equation model.

The results of the structural equation model analysis showed the following: consumer attitudes toward organic food labeling/certification institutions had a positive impact on the trust in food labeling; channel dependence positively influenced the relational embeddedness in a channel; the effect of the nutritional value of organic food on environmental protection also had a positive impact on attitudes toward organic foods; attitudes toward trust in the organic label, relational embeddedness in a channel, and attitudes toward organic foods had a positive impact on consumer purchase intentions; and in relation to low-price scenarios, consumers required more confidence to purchase higher-priced goods, meaning that the relational embeddedness in a channel exerted more influence on purchase intentions. By contrast, compared to the high-price scenarios, consumers tended to choose lower priced goods based on personal preferences, e.g., making the purchase decision based on trust in the organic label and attitudes toward organic food.

The contributions of this study include the following: the relationships among the variables were investigated comprehensively from multiple theoretical perspectives; and the results can help the government and the organic food industry to understand their respective responsibilities in promoting organic food to reduce the waste of resources, in which the government can provide basic information on organic food, e.g., a certification mechanism and related definitions, while the organic food industry provides specific knowledge about organic foods, e.g., product features.

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize relevant theoretical and empirical literature to develop propositions and suggest a research agenda on the antecedents and organisational performance implications of internal audit effectiveness.

The paper employs institutional theory and Karl Marx's theory of the “circuit of industrial capital” to synthesize relevant internal audit literature to develop theoretically justifiable propositions and highlight an operational research agenda.

Propositions and a research agenda are provided on potential antecedents of internal audit effectiveness and its possible association with company performance measured as rate of return on capital employed. Also, key variables are identified and operationalisation issues discussed.

As the extant literature does not provide a canon of internal audit effectiveness, the paper's originality is its argument that a positive association between compliance with standards for the professional practice of internal auditors and organisational goal achievement could serve as an approach to assess internal audit effectiveness. Furthermore, the use of the two theories in combination provides additional insights into identifying the antecedents of internal audit effectiveness and its measurement.