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Do divergences between stated and actual willingness to pay signify the existence of bias in contingent valuation surveys?

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  • Onwujekwe, Obinna
  • Hanson, Kara
  • Fox-Rushby, Julia

Abstract

This study's objective is to determine the factors that cause divergences over time (differences) between stated willingness to pay (WTP) and actual WTP (purchase behaviour), and consider whether any divergence signifies the presence of bias in contingent valuation studies. Stated WTP for insecticide-treated bed-nets (ITNs) was elicited from a random sample of respondents using three question formats in Nigeria. The question formats were the bidding game (BG), binary with follow-up (BWFU) and a novel structured haggling (SH) technique. The sales of the nets and a second survey were conducted 1 month after the first survey. In the second survey, factors that might explain the divergences were built into the questionnaire and these together with socio-economic variables were examined for causes of divergences in WTP. Data were analysed using non-parametric tests, testing of means and cross-tabulations. There were divergences in WTP in all three question formats: 69.4% in the BG, 78.7% in the BWFU and 48.8% in the SH. The higher the stated WTP, the more likely the divergence between stated and actual WTP. The attitude of the community leaders to the ITNs in the BG (p

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  • Onwujekwe, Obinna & Hanson, Kara & Fox-Rushby, Julia, 2005. "Do divergences between stated and actual willingness to pay signify the existence of bias in contingent valuation surveys?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 525-536, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:60:y:2005:i:3:p:525-536
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