The Role of Credence Attributes in Consumer Choices of Sustainable Fish Products: A Review

Giulia Maesano, Giuseppe Di Vita, Gaetano Chinnici, Gioacchino Pappalardo and Mario D'Amico
Additional contact information
Giulia Maesano: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Via S. Sofia 98-100, 95123 Catania, Italy
Giuseppe Di Vita: Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Science (Disafa), University of Turin, Largo Braccini, 2, Grugliasco, 10095 Torino, Italy
Gaetano Chinnici: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Via S. Sofia 98-100, 95123 Catania, Italy
Gioacchino Pappalardo: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Via S. Sofia 98-100, 95123 Catania, Italy
Mario D'Amico: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Via S. Sofia 98-100, 95123 Catania, Italy

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 23, 1-18

Abstract: This review aims to assess consumer choices of sustainable fish products, considering a number of attributes that have been considered in the academic literature on this topic. In order to examine the effectiveness of sustainable labels, the research question was focused on the relation between sustainable fish labels and consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP). The findings showed how, overall, consumers have positive perceptions regarding sustainable fish products and show a willingness to pay a premium price for the attribute of sustainability. According to the results, the country of origin attribute was found to be the most important attribute in relation to consumer choice. The results indicated a high WTP for local fish products, relative to imported alternatives. Consumers prefer wild-caught fish for its perceived quality, better safety and health aspects, and taste perception than the farm-raised option. As for animal welfare, the results show that consumers are willing to pay a moderate premium price for products that have an improved fish welfare or those that avoid by-catch, such as products with eco-labels like “turtle safe”. With regard to organic labels, the studies identified a positive organic price premium for fish products. However, organic labels do not play a major role in consumer choice, when compared with other attributes.

Keywords: sustainable fish; review; consumer choices; WTP; credence attributes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/10008/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/10008/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:23:p:10008-:d:454052

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().