Abstract: Lighting is playing a crucial role in people’s daily life. It not only has an image forming function, but also has a non-image forming function influencing psycho-physiological activities, cognitive performance and individual behavior. A series of researches have examined the effect of lighting on food intake behavior, the evaluation of a product’s sensory attributes and choice between healthy and unhealthy food. But little is known about how ambient lighting levels might influence consumers’ willing to pay of food (WTP). This is especially noteworthy because in many stores, managers can control the ambient lighting illuminance (brightness or dimness) with ease investment to meet consumers’ demand and make profit. Therefore, this study attempt to explore the relationship between ambient light on consumer’ willing to pay, as well as the potential mechanisms underlying this relation. Prior studies have used self-control to examine this phenomenon. However, consumers are increasingly focusing on food safety than other factors in nowadays. Hence, it becomes responsibility to explore whether the perception of food safety become the more favorable interpretation for the relationship of ambient light and WTP. Despite being worried about food safety, most consumers still tend to find a standard to support or deny their doubt, like certification label. To conclude, this study sheds light on the effects of ambient light luminance on WTP of food in the perspective of perception of food safety. Two experiments were conducted to explore how ambient light influenced consumer’s willing to pay (WTP). Experiment 1 examined the main effect of ambient light illumination on WTP, and analyzed the mediating effect of perception of food safety. The results showed that ambient light luminance has a positive predictive effect on the WTP of food, with WTP being higher in bright (vs. dim) lighting (M bright=6.58, e=1.59 vs. M dim =4.88, SD=1.64; t(220)= -7.81, p<.01). The perception of food safety mediated the effect of ambient light illumination to WTP. Ambient light illumination predicted the perception of food safety significantly(β=2.76, t=17.62, p<.01), and the perception of food safety predicted the WTP of food significantly (β=.36, t=3.84, p<.01). In experiment 2, the researchers tried to explore the process driving the effects of ambient light on WTP by examining the moderating effect of certification label. Through a 2×2 completely randomized experimental design, the results showed that the ambient light (F(1, 240)=4.86, p=.028, partial η2=.020) or certification label (F(1, 240)=4.06, p=.045, partial η2=.017) has the main effect on the consumer’s WTP, and the interaction between the ambient light and certification label was significant (F(1, 240)=5.86, p=.016, partial η2=.024).In the analysis of the moderated mediating effect, the research found that the interaction between ambient light and certification label negative effect the perception of food safety (β= -.63, t= -2.05, p=.041). Specifically, for the subjects without certification label, the ambient light had positive predictive effect on the perception of food safety, but for the subjects with certification label, the ambient light had no significant predictive effect. Ambient light had positive predictive effect on the WTP of food, which meant individuals tended to pay more when ambient lighting is bright (vs. dim). Importantly, it supported a perception of food safety - based explanation for the effects of ambient light on WTP. Furthermore, certification label moderated the effect of ambient light on the perception of food safety. For the subjects with certification label, the ambient light had no significant predictive effect, which again highlighted the role of perception of food safety as the underlying factor in influencing the effects of dim versus bright ambient lighting on WTP of food.

Key words: ambient light, perception of food safety, certification label, willingness to pay

摘要： 本研究考察了环境亮度对食品消费决策的影响，揭示了其发生的心理机制及边界。实验1和实验2发现环境亮度正向影响消费者支付意愿。这一效应的内在机制是因为明亮环境使消费者产生更高的食品安全感知，进而增加其对食品的支付意愿。对产品认证标签的检验进一步验证了安全感知的中介作用 (实验2)。结果表明，当食品具有认证标签时，食品安全感知无法中介环境亮度对消费者支付意愿的影响。

关键词: 环境亮度, 食品安全感知, 认证标签, 支付意愿