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A meaning alignment framework integrating consumer and design perspectives for green food packaging decision support

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: As green consumption continues to expand, food packaging has become a critical medium for communicating sustainability information. Its design directly affects how green information is recognised and understood. However, existing studies typically adopt either a consumer perspective or a design perspective in isolation, with limited efforts to systematically integrate the two for decision-making support. This study aims to examine the structural relationship between consumers’ perceptual demand characteristics and design experts’ normative priority judgments regarding perceptible design attributes in green food packaging. A mixed-methods approach is adopted. Perceptible design attributes are first identified through literature analysis and focus group discussions. The Kano model is then used to analyse consumer demand types and satisfaction effects, while the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is applied to evaluate expert design priorities. The two perspectives are subsequently compared to identify consumer perception–design norm misalignment patterns. The findings reveal that perceptible design attributes exhibit both areas of convergence and systematic misalignment between consumers and design experts. These misalignments reveal translation gaps between design intentions and consumer interpretation of green meanings, which may affect the efficient allocation of design resources. Building on these findings, this study proposes a Meaning Alignment Framework that systematically integrates Kano and AHP within a unified analytical structure. The framework introduces a perception–norm alignment perspective and translates misalignments into actionable design decision rules, shifting the role of existing methods from isolated evaluation tools to a structured decision-support mechanism. This study provides a new analytical perspective for understanding design–perception relationships in green food packaging and offers exploratory guidance for improving the effectiveness of sustainability communication in real consumption contexts.

Source: Scientific Reports

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-67284-5

Authors: WeiWei Li, Basyarah Hamat, YanXiao Zhao, Tao Wang

Institutions: University of Technology Malaysia, Anyang Institute of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Consumer Packaging Perceptions and Trends

Subfield: Marketing

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Responsible consumption and production

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,690