“Look at Me, I’m Buying Organic”: The Effects of Social Pressure on Organic Food Purchases

Seon-Woong Kim, Jayson Lusk and B Brorsen

Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 2018, vol. 43, issue 3

Abstract: We investigate whether consumers purchase organic foods to demonstrate social status to others. Subjects were asked to choose among organic and nonorganic milk and apples in a control group and treatments in which: i) an image of another person’s eyes was displayed, ii) responses appeared to not be anonymous, or iii) a vignette placed the choice in the presence of an acquaintance. The vignette treatment increased the willingness-to-pay (WTP) premium for organic by about 90%. The other treatments did not have significant overall effects. When exposed to another person’s eyes, more educated respondents increased their WTP for organic.

Keywords: Consumer/Household Economics; Public Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:jlaare:276500

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.276500

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