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Consumer reaction to information on food additives: Evidence from an eating experiment and a field survey

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  • Aoki, Keiko
  • Shen, Junyi
  • Saijo, Tatsuyoshi

Abstract

Both the presence/absence of food additives and provision of accurate information pertaining to the same are considered to be important factors affecting individuals' purchase decisions. In this paper, we apply the choice experiment approach under both real (the laboratory experiment) and hypothetical (the field survey) environments to investigate how consumers value a food additive (sodium nitrite) present in ham sandwiches and whether the provision of information about sodium nitrite affects individuals' choice. The results suggest that in both real and hypothetical situations, participants do not favor the use of sodium nitrite, per se, regardless of whether or not the detailed information is provided. Moreover, the willingness to pay values for ham sandwiches without sodium nitrite are estimated to be lower in the experiment and higher in the survey after negative and positive information is provided, implying that the effect of information provision differs between these two environments. In addition, further investigation of the participants' reasons for choosing ham sandwiches indicates that the information related to flavor seems to have more influence on the consumers' choice behavior in a real situation, while the information associated with health risk is like to play a relatively more important role in a hypothetical situation.

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  • Aoki, Keiko & Shen, Junyi & Saijo, Tatsuyoshi, 2010. "Consumer reaction to information on food additives: Evidence from an eating experiment and a field survey," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 433-438, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:73:y:2010:i:3:p:433-438
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    2. Haghani, Milad & Bliemer, Michiel C.J. & Rose, John M. & Oppewal, Harmen & Lancsar, Emily, 2021. "Hypothetical bias in stated choice experiments: Part II. Conceptualisation of external validity, sources and explanations of bias and effectiveness of mitigation methods," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    3. Haghani, Milad & Bliemer, Michiel C.J. & Rose, John M. & Oppewal, Harmen & Lancsar, Emily, 2021. "Hypothetical bias in stated choice experiments: Part I. Macro-scale analysis of literature and integrative synthesis of empirical evidence from applied economics, experimental psychology and neuroimag," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    4. Bastola, Sapana & Penn, Jerrod & Blazier, Michael, 2022. "Assessing Hypothetical Bias in Nudging: Willingness to Pay for Consultation towards Improved Forest Management," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322477, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Maria Angela Perito & Emilio Chiodo & Annalisa Serio & Antonello Paparella & Andrea Fantini, 2020. "Factors Influencing Consumers’ Attitude Towards Biopreservatives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-12, December.
    6. Satoko Kubota & Hirotsugu Sawano & Hiroichi Kono, 2017. "Japanese consumer preferences for additive-free wine labeling," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-15, December.
    7. Rigby, Dan & Burton, Michael & Balcombe, Kelvin & Bateman, Ian & Mulatu, Abay, 2015. "Contract cheating & the market in essays," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 23-37.

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