Responsible innovation fostering digital consumption that contributes to shaping sustainable food markets: The case of myLabel

We propose in this article an empirical case study of myLabel, a digital scoring initiative that enables consumers to choose everyday products in line with their eco-socio-responsible expectations and provides retailers paid access to data on consumer choices. We draw on literature from different fields: responsible innovation, consumer culture in the era of digital consumption, labelling, certification and assessment schemes for sustainability. We explore if and how the innovative process of myLabel allows consumers and producers to become actors of the transition of markets towards increased sustainability. We conclude that myLabel has a positioning that is neither consumer-activist driven nor that of an active co-construction actor with consumers. With the social innovation it proposes, it aims at being a change agent. Its legitimacy draws on the expertise of the solid network of associations and reference bodies it created, alongside with the design of its app that renders trustworthy information available and understandable to the public, thus nudging people, on an individual level, towards more sustainable consumption behaviours. Consumer choices in turn, in the form of credible aggregated data, allow retailers and producers to make informed decisions on product composition and value chain that meet sustainability standards.