Consumer Behavior and Wild Animal Consumption in China

Zhenyi Li and Huashu Wang

Chinese Economy, 2021, vol. 54, issue 6, 389-401

Abstract: China is one of the major countries with multitudinous consumers who eat wild animals. As the potential health interface between animal and human-being has been proved by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in 2020, this zoonosis has alarmed the public to pay more attention to wild animal consumption. It is imperative to study the factors that affect wild animal consumption in China, and find out what should be emphasized in the intervention of this behavior. Based on the consumer theory, binary logit model is employed to examine the factors that affect the consumer behavior in wild animal consumption, using the survey data from 390 respondents randomly collected through the online platform. The major factors that we examined include demographic characteristics, psychological factors, external factors, price and income level. We find out that the high-income level (annual income per capita is more than 100 thousand Yuan), low education level (primary education or below), consumption history (eating wild animals before), as well as the demonstration effect and the effect of the belief that eating wild animals supplements nutrition intake, have significantly positive effects on the odds of wild animal consumption in China. By contrary, raising consumers’ awareness of food safety would reduce the odds of wild animal consumption. The study also investigates the major reasons why the consumers give up eating wild animals. Awareness of food safety is the top reason stopping consumers from eating wild animals. Wildlife Protection Law and its enforcement haven’t effectively controlled wild animal consumption as expected. The study helps to explain consumer behavior of wild animal consumption in China and would contribute to improving current understanding of public responses to wild animal consumption.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1080/10971475.2021.1890357

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