IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/agfoec/v6y2018i1d10.1186_s40100-018-0117-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Consumers’ willingness to pay for natural food: evidence from an artefactual field experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Giuseppina Migliore

    (Università degli Studi di Palermo)

  • Massimiliano Borrello

    (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II)

  • Alessia Lombardi

    (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II)

  • Giorgio Schifani

    (Università degli Studi di Palermo)

Abstract

Among foods with credence attributes, food with “natural” components have received in the last years particular attention by consumers. This study applies the BDM incentive compatible mechanism to explore young (18–35 years old) consumers’ interest and willingness to pay for chewing gums having the natural attribute. Our analysis shows that over 68% of consumers are interested in the natural attribute and are willing to pay a price premium. We also find that consumers’ higher age and interest in the environment have significant impacts on consumers’ preferences for the natural attribute.

Suggested Citation

  • Giuseppina Migliore & Massimiliano Borrello & Alessia Lombardi & Giorgio Schifani, 2018. "Consumers’ willingness to pay for natural food: evidence from an artefactual field experiment," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agfoec:v:6:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1186_s40100-018-0117-1
    DOI: 10.1186/s40100-018-0117-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s40100-018-0117-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s40100-018-0117-1?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher Berry & Scot Burton & Elizabeth Howlett, 2017. "It’s only natural: the mediating impact of consumers’ attribute inferences on the relationships between product claims, perceived product healthfulness, and purchase intentions," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(5), pages 698-719, September.
    2. Shogren, Jason F. & Cho, Sungwon & Koo, Cannon & List, John & Park, Changwon & Polo, Pablo & Wilhelmi, Robert, 2001. "Auction mechanisms and the measurement of WTP and WTA," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 97-109, April.
    3. Lunardo, Renaud & Saintives, Camille, 2013. "The effect of naturalness claims on perceptions of food product naturalness in the point of purchase," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 529-537.
    4. Chrysochou, Polymeros & Grunert, Klaus G., 2014. "Health-related ad information and health motivation effects on product evaluations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(6), pages 1209-1217.
    5. Pierre Chandon & Brian Wansink, 2007. "The Biasing Health Halos of Fast-Food Restaurant Health Claims: Lower Calorie Estimates and Higher Side-Dish Consumption Intentions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(3), pages 301-314, June.
    6. Daniel Kahneman & Jack L. Knetsch & Richard H. Thaler, 1991. "Anomalies: The Endowment Effect, Loss Aversion, and Status Quo Bias," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 193-206, Winter.
    7. Rousu Matthew C. & Corrigan Jay R., 2008. "Estimating the Welfare Loss to Consumers When Food Labels Do Not Adequately Inform: An Application to Fair Trade Certification," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 6(1), pages 1-26, May.
    8. Vermeir, Iris & Verbeke, Wim, 2008. "Sustainable food consumption among young adults in Belgium: Theory of planned behaviour and the role of confidence and values," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 542-553, January.
    9. Noussair, Charles & Robin, Stephane & Ruffieux, Bernard, 2004. "Revealing consumers' willingness-to-pay: A comparison of the BDM mechanism and the Vickrey auction," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 725-741, December.
    10. Giuseppina Migliore & Vittorio Farina & Salvatore Tinervia & Giovanni Matranga & Giorgio Schifani, 2017. "Consumer interest towards tropical fruit: factors affecting avocado fruit consumption in Italy," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-12, December.
    11. McFadden, Jonathan R. & Huffman, Wallace E., 2017. "Willingness-to-pay for natural, organic, and conventional foods: The effects of information and meaningful labels," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 214-232.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. József Tóth & Giuseppina Migliore & Giorgio Schifani & Giuseppina Rizzo, 2020. "Sustainable Value Creation in the Food Chain: A Consumer Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-12, February.
    2. Giuseppina Rizzo & Massimiliano Borrello & Giovanni Dara Guccione & Giorgio Schifani & Luigi Cembalo, 2020. "Organic Food Consumption: The Relevance of the Health Attribute," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-12, January.
    3. Cao, Yu & Li, Heng, 2023. "Everything has a limit: How intellectual humility lowers the preference for naturalness as reflected in drug choice," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    4. Ildiko Kovacs & Eva Reka Keresztes, 2022. "Perceived Consumer Effectiveness and Willingness to Pay for Credence Product Attributes of Sustainable Foods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-17, April.
    5. Morone, Piergiuseppe & Caferra, Rocco & D'Adamo, Idiano & Falcone, Pasquale Marcello & Imbert, Enrica & Morone, Andrea, 2021. "Consumer willingness to pay for bio-based products: Do certifications matter?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    6. Rybak, Garrett & Burton, Scot & Berry, Christopher, 2024. "Reducing the negative impact of ultra-processed foods: Consumer response to natural claims, organic claims, and processing level disclosures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rybak, Garrett & Burton, Scot & Johnson, Alicia M. & Berry, Christopher, 2021. "Promoted claims on food product packaging: Comparing direct and indirect effects of processing and nutrient content claims," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 464-479.
    2. My, Nguyen H.D. & Demont, Matty & Van Loo, Ellen J. & de Guia, Annalyn & Rutsaert, Pieter & Tuan, Tran Huu & Verbeke, Wim, 2018. "What is the value of sustainably-produced rice? Consumer evidence from experimental auctions in Vietnam," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 283-296.
    3. von Grafenstein, Liza & Iweala, Sarah & Ruml, Anette, 2021. "Information Source and Content – Drivers for Consumers’ Valuation of Fairly Traded Foods," Sustainable Food Systems Discussion Papers 317123, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    4. Ulrich Schmidt & Stefan Traub, 2009. "An Experimental Investigation of the Disparity Between WTA and WTP for Lotteries," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 66(3), pages 229-262, March.
    5. Isabel Marcin & Andreas Nicklisch, 2014. "Testing the Endowment Effect for Default Rules," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2014_01, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    6. Corrigan, Jay R. & Rousu, Matthew C., 2008. "Testing Whether Field Auction Experiments Are Demand Revealing in Practice," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 33(2).
    7. Sebastian Lehmann, 2014. "Toward an Understanding of the BDM: Predictive Validity, Gambling Effects, and Risk Attitude," FEMM Working Papers 150001, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Faculty of Economics and Management.
    8. A Banerji and Jeevant Rampal, 2015. "Loss Aversion And Willingness To Pay For New Products," Working papers 249, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    9. Anne Rozan & Anne Stenger & Marc Willinger, 2004. "Willingness-to-pay for food safety: An experimental investigation of quality certification on bidding behaviour," Framed Field Experiments 00197, The Field Experiments Website.
    10. Steven J. Humphrey & Luke Lindsay & Chris Starmer, 2017. "Consumption experience, choice experience and the endowment effect," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 3(2), pages 109-120, December.
    11. James Berry & Greg Fischer & Raymond Guiteras, 2020. "Eliciting and Utilizing Willingness to Pay: Evidence from Field Trials in Northern Ghana," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(4), pages 1436-1473.
    12. A. Banerji & Jeevant Rampal, 2020. "Reverse Endowment Effect for a New Product," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(3), pages 786-805, May.
    13. Laurent Muller & Bernard Ruffieux, 2011. "Do price-tags influence consumers’ willingness to pay? On the external validity of using auctions for measuring value," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 14(2), pages 181-202, May.
    14. Colson Gregory & Corrigan Jay R & Rousu Matthew C., 2010. "The Impact of Perceived Prices on Willingness to Pay in Experimental Auctions," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, November.
    15. Vlaeminck, Pieter & Vranken, Liesbet, 2015. "Do labels capture consumers’ actual willingness to pay for Fair Trade characteristics?," Working Papers 206438, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centre for Agricultural and Food Economics.
    16. Shahrabani, Shosh & Shavit, Tal & Benzion, Uri, 2008. "Short-selling and the WTA-WTP gap," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 131-133, April.
    17. Uri Benzion & Shosh Shahrabani & Tal Shavit, 2013. "Retesting The Uncertainty Effect Using Lotteries With Real Products And Money," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65, pages 175-186, May.
    18. Drouvelis, Michalis & Sonnemans, Joep, 2017. "The endowment effect in games," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 240-262.
    19. Rousu, Matthew C. & Marette, Stéphan & Thrasher, James F. & Lusk, Jayson L., 2014. "The economic value to smokers of graphic warning labels on cigarettes: Evidence from combining market and experimental auction data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 123-134.
    20. Marcin, Isabel & Nicklisch, Andreas, 2014. "Testing the Endowment Effect for Default Rules," WiSo-HH Working Paper Series 10, University of Hamburg, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, WISO Research Laboratory.

    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:spr:agfoec:v:6:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1186_s40100-018-0117-1. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.