Testing Consumers’ Preferences for Environmental Attributes of Pasta. Insights from an ABR Approach

Edi Defrancesco, Maria Angela Perito, Irene Bozzolan, Leonardo Cei and Gianluca Stefani
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Edi Defrancesco: Department TESAF, University of Padova, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
Maria Angela Perito: Faculty of Bioscience and Agro-Food and Environmental Technology, University of Teramo and ALISS, UR1303, INRA, F-94205 Ivry-sur-Seine, France
Irene Bozzolan: Department TESAF, University of Padova, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
Leonardo Cei: Department DISEI, University of Firenze, 50127 Firenze, Italy

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: Consumer appreciation for food environmental attributes has recently gained in importance. The health-related attributes have received less attention in the literature, if organic farming products are excluded. We measure the consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for a traditional Italian product, pasta, when environmental and healthy attributes are added to it in turn. Relying on the prospect theory and on the bundling/unbundling debate, attributes cannot be perceived by consumers in absolute values. Accordingly, we assess if the way in which attributes are presented to consumers influences their WTP by comparing an “unbundling” approach—informing consumers of all product attributes and then subtracting one of them, to a “bundling” approach, progressively adding further attributes to the product’s description. To do this, we administered a questionnaire to a sample of households in North-Central Italy. WTP is elicited using an attribute based referenda format, slightly modified in accordance with our research objectives. The results show that Italian consumers, with the exception of specific subgroups, tend to prefer a traditional pasta product, probably because of both their taste preferences and eating habits. Some evidence emerged of an endowment effect, consumers valuing environmental attributes more when they feel themselves entitled to them.

Keywords: environmental attributes; health attributes; pasta; ABR method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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