Sustainability is defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations and involves three dimensional aspects: economic, environmental, and social (Brundtland Commission, 1987). These dimensions are expressed in attributes commonly used in marketing and commercial practices that seek to generate greater differentiation among products because of market orientation (Nurse Rainbolt et al., 2012; Claro et al., 2013; Fernqvist & Ekelund, 2014). Although most studies have focused on the environmental dimension, social sustainability (SS) has received special attention in recent years (Bangsa & Schlegelmilch, 2020; Waheed et al., 2020). From a commercial point of view, SS has been analyzed from two sides: the actions of companies that market sustainable products, and the consumers’ behavior who buy products that highlight ethical or socially sustainable attributes (De Magistris et al., 2015; Del Giudice et al., 2018).

The predominant concept of SS used by companies is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which can be understood and studied under the international guidelines of ISO 26000 (ISO-OECD, 2017). At a global level, the UN’s 2030 agenda includes the promotion of sustainable development goals, which also considers a sustainable production and consumption goal (goal number 12), that encourages companies value environmental and social aspects as a key factor for competitiveness (Garcia Navarro & Granda Revilla, 2020). Social sustainability is therefore a broad concept that affects all stakeholders of the organization, including customers, suppliers, workers and the entire community (Carroll, 1999; Grunert et al., 2014), and is also very important for the food industry due to the complexity of its value chain (Fernqvist & Ekelund, 2014; Grunert et al., 2014; Vecchio & Annunziata, 2015; Wei et al., 2018).

From the consumer’s point of view, SS is related to their purchasing behavior. The extrinsic aspects of food are increasingly valued, carrying out consumption practices that consider attributes that exceed the use value of the product, which is known as practicing ethical consumption (Sacchi, 2018). Following the definition of Long & Murray (2012), this is “the act of purchasing products that have additional attributes (e.g., social, environmental, political, health, etc.) in addition to their immediate use value, to signify commitment to their values and/or to support changes to unjust market practices.”

These additional attributes can be presented on food products as labels that refer to SS and that constitute credence attributes in the consumer’s purchase decision (Onozaka & McFadden, 2011; Vecchio & Annunziata, 2015; Wirth et al., 2016; Aoki et al., 2017; Tait et al., 2018). Credibility attributes are used to assess consumers’ preferences about the sustainability characteristics of food, so they cannot be assessed through consumption, but mainly through the labels of the products that certify them (Wirth et al., 2016). SS attributes conveyed through labels make it possible to reduce information asymmetry between consumers and producers and also to achieve more sustainable consumption (Asioli et al., 2020; Bastounis et al., 2021). In general, the use of labels with social and environmental sustainability attributes generates among consumers a positive opinion and attitude towards these foods (Tobi et al., 2019). SS has been related to health, nutrition, organic production, and origin of the product (Fernqvist & Ekelund, 2014), and several studies have reported that consumers consider it positively in their food purchase decision (Pomarici & Vecchio, 2014; Vecchio & Annunziata, 2015; Ghvanidze et al., 2017). Specifically, there is a wide variety of labels applied in the market to distinguish SS attributes. These include those related to aspects of local production, fair trade and other credibility attributes (Ghvanidze et al., 2017; Tebbe & von Blanckenburg, 2018; Tait et al., 2019).

In the specific case of cheese, labels are also used to highlight attributes, including sustainability attributes, so research has begun to be conducted in this regard (Kos et al., 2018; Echeverría et al., 2022; Mazzocchi & Sali, 2022). The price attribute is often included to assess consumer preferences in market situations, as well as a way to assess willingness to pay (WTP) for each attribute (Echeverría et al., 2022; Mazzocchi & Sali, 2022). Price has been found to be the most important factor in consumer preferences for cheese (Kos et al., 2018; Menozzi et al., 2022). In the case of SS, Mazzocchi & Sali (2022) studied the ‘mountain product label’ (which includes SS aspects) promoted by the European Union. They found that cheeses with this attribute have a higher price. According to another study related to this concept, consumers are willing to pay more for organic and mountain cheese (Stiletto & Trestini, 2022b). Regarding other attributes, studies have found that nutritional aspects of cheese are positively perceived by consumers (Stiletto & Trestini, 2022a), as well as characteristics that account for cheese quality (Menozzi et al., 2022).

Studies on SS food consumption have been mainly conducted in developed countries, predominating studies in Europe and the United States, where there is a high consumer preference for SS products (Miller et al., 2017; Schäufele & Hamm, 2017). As the trend to consume SS foods spreads around the world, a deeper understanding of consumer responses to these products needs to be extended to emerging markets (Schäufele & Hamm, 2017; Bangsa & Schlegelmilch, 2020). Given that its income has increased by 46% (from 10,200 to 14,900 US$ per capita) over the past ten years, Chile is a good example of a rising nation that merits more research (World-Bank, 2019).

The cheese market in Chile has an industry that strongly concentrates the reception of milk (as of 2022, 75.2% was received by only 4 companies), which translates into a dominant purchasing power of these companies (Peña-Torres & Dosque, 2019; Peralta & Fuentes, 2023). On the other hand, among the main dairy products produced by these companies are cheeses (about 119,000 tons representing about 90% of the national total); the difference is produced by smaller companies (Fernandez & Farías, 2019). Additionally, 55,000 tons of cheeses were imported in 2022, which are mostly marketed by these large companies (Peña-Torres & Dosque, 2019; ODEPA, 2023; Peralta & Fuentes, 2023). This means that the cheese market is dominated by a few large companies, so it is important to create competitive strategies so that smaller companies can succeed in the market. In this sense, sustainability, and in particular SS, can be an option for these smaller companies to have an advantage in the cheese consumption market.

Among food products, cheese has been widely studied for the opportunity to create differentiation through several attributes such as origin type of milk, type of cheese and packaging, among others (Pilone et al., 2015; Imami et al., 2016; O’Callaghan & Kerry, 2016), but despite its market importance at a world level, there are no studies that have evaluated the SS attribute. In this regard, the study’s objective was to examine consumers’ preferences for cheese that emphasizes SS characteristics in Chile, representing a growing market. Furthermore, this study is the first to examine the SS trait in the context of the Chilean food sector.

The results obtained in this study are similar to those of Ghvanidze et al. (2017), who found that conscious consumers prefer SS products. On the other hand, Miller et al. (2017) found that there is a clear trend in consumers’ choice of food with SS, although this trend is stronger in people from developing countries (India and Indonesia). According to Tobi (2019), the information delivered to consumers creates in them a positive attitude towards social and environmental sustainability attributes. This positive attitude ultimately translates into consumers choosing or valuing these products, as for example in the case of cheese with a “mountain product label”, where consumers express their WTP more for these attributes (Echeverría et al., 2022; Mazzocchi & Sali, 2022; Stiletto & Trestini, 2022b).

This study has also shown that the consumer always chooses a combination of attributes in which at least one of them has a higher level of preference (individually). In addition, consumers gave priority to attribute combinations that have the largest number of attributes with the highest preference levels (in this case, three attributes, then two, then one attribute). Besides, consumer choice was given in the following order: price first (lowest was most preferred), SS (fully complies was most preferred) and finally type of cheese (Chanco was most preferred).

The role of price was clear: it is the most important attribute in consumer choice. Lower cheese prices lead the choice. This is in line with other studies that have evaluated aspects of SS in cheese (Kos et al., 2018; Menozzi et al., 2022). In the same vein, but in a study on consumer preference for wine, Tait et al. (2019) found a negative relationship between consumer choice of SS products and high prices. These results are also consistent with those found by Ghvanidze et al. (2017), who showed that price influences consumers’ food choice more than information about producers’ social responsibility or the ecological impact of production. Although the importance of price in the selection of attributes, including SS, is to be expected, the importance of including SS in the choice is important to give weight to this attribute (Toussaint et al., 2020). Furthermore, Ross & Milne (2021) found that consumers who are more focused on maximizing their own utility value price over sustainability, and that consumers with a higher social orientation prefer sustainable products over price. This analysis of consumer choice included the attributes of quality, price, and sustainability.

The joint evaluation of cheese type with the SS attribute presented in this study indicates that, in a context of low prices, the SS attribute is more relevant to consumers than cheese type. Other studies that have included other aspects such as quality or nutritional aspects indicate that these are well valued by consumers (Menozzi et al., 2022; Stiletto & Trestini, 2022a). In particular, Ross & Milne (2021) found that quality (which could be equated to cheese type) ranks third in terms of consumer choice, which would be consistent with what was found in the present research.

With respect to consumer characteristics, the results of this research differ from those reported by other studies, which identify gender as an important characteristic of individuals who value sustainable attributes (Toppinen et al, 2013; Grankvist et al, 2019; Piracci et al, 2022). Finally, elderly and low-income people choose the third-choice option, which rewards a particular type of cheese over SS. It can then be concluded that it is possible to segment consumers who will reward SS through the variables age and education.

One of the study’s conclusions and consequences is that Chilean customers, who represent an emerging market, value SS in cheese. Although the most important attribute in consumer decision-making is price (the lowest price always dominates the choice), SS is the second most valued attribute, even more than the type of cheese, which could be considered the closest to the quality attribute. In addition, consumers who value SS are older and more educated. The results obtained in this study have valuable practical implications. Producing and marketing a SS cheese could enable companies to make their products preferred by consumers, even if they do not produce the preferred type of cheese. Therefore, cheese factories or other companies in other agri-food sectors have a market opportunity if they incorporate and declare SS attributes in their products.

Future research should include other aspects of SS considered in ISO 26000, analyze other products, include more attributes and consider a methodology that can capture the ordered process identified here and the complexity of consumer choice. It is important to note that studies that contribute to understanding the situation in other countries are essential for companies to develop marketing strategies that explore the social side of sustainability. In summary, future research could benefit from incorporating a diverse set of attributes to capture a more complete picture of consumer perceptions and preferences in the context of sustainability.