Promoting eco‐labeled food consumption in China: The role of information

Consumers usually have little knowledge about eco‐labels, and eco‐labeled foods are still relatively uncommon. This study explores whether providing information about eco‐labels can improve consumers’ valuations of eco‐labeled foods. We tested three types of information—selfish (health related), altruistic (environment related), and combined (both)—and used a sample of 4523 Chinese consumers. Our results indicate that all three types of information increase consumers’ valuations of eco‐labeled foods. Consumers express the largest valuation for eco‐labeled foods when provided with selfish information, followed by altruistic information and combined information. We also found heterogeneous responses to all information treatments, with high‐income consumers being more responsive to selfish information, while more highly educated consumers are more sensitive to combined information. We discuss the implications for designing policies to develop eco‐labeled food markets, for example, by using redundant or identity‐based information on the labels, especially in developing economies. [EconLit Citations: D12, Q13, Q18]