IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nas/journl/v121y2024pe2319016121.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Substitution patterns and price response for plant-based meat alternatives

Author

Listed:
  • Steffen Jahn

    (a Department of Business Administration, School of Economics and Business, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg , Halle 06099 , Germany)

  • Daniel Guhl

    (b Department of Business Administration, School of Business and Economics, Humboldt University Berlin , Berlin 10099 , Germany)

  • Ainslee Erhard

    (c Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Göttingen , Göttingen 37073 , Germany)

Abstract

Efforts to promote sustainable resource use through reduced meat consumption face challenges as global meat consumption persists. The resistance may be attributed to the lower sales price of meat compared to most plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs). Addressing this, our research delves into the pivotal question of which PBMAs resonate most with consumers and how pricing affects demand. In a hypothetical restaurant context, we conducted 2 representative studies among 2,126 individuals in the United States to scrutinize preferences for meat, analog, semi-analog, and non-analog burgers. First, in a survey, we assessed rankings of the four burgers, alongside evaluating participants’ genuine consideration of these choices to discern a diverse preference distribution. Subsequently, in an experiment, we examined the influence of prices on participants’ consideration and choice of PBMAs, thereby capturing both phases of the decision-making process. Our survey shows that meat has considerably higher utility and consumer preference than all PBMAs on average, but we also find substantial heterogeneity (i.e., some consumers prefer PBMAs over meat). In the experiment, we establish that there is a negative association between the consideration of meat and PBMA burgers, though consideration of any one PBMA is positively associated with considering other PBMAs. A noteworthy increase in consideration and choice is observed when prices of PBMAs are reduced, while changing the price of the meat burger only has minimal effect on demand. Such findings underscore the importance of affordability beyond price parity in catalyzing the shift toward plant-based diets.

Suggested Citation

  • Steffen Jahn & Daniel Guhl & Ainslee Erhard, 2024. "Substitution patterns and price response for plant-based meat alternatives," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 121(50), pages 2319016121-, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:121:y:2024:p:e2319016121
    DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2319016121
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2319016121
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1073/pnas.2319016121?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:121:y:2024:p:e2319016121. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Eric Cain (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.pnas.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.