De hoofdvraag van dit onderzoek is samen met diverse organisaties binnen het duurzaamheidsdomein ontwikkeld en verwoord als: “Welke creatieve methoden kunnen ontwikkeld worden om de willingness to pay voor duurzame voedingsproducten bij consumenten te verhogen?”
Consumer concern for animal welfare is currently not fully reflected in the market share of welfare-enhanced meat. A possible solution is developing marketing strategies that emphasize personally relevant benefits such as taste and curiosity, instead of having a sole focus on sustainability-related benefits, since existing research indicates that the former are more appealing to most consumers. This study tests strategies positioning welfare-enhanced meat as personally relevant in a real-life experiment and how consumer attitudes towards eating meat influence reactions to the positioning strategies. The study conducts experimental auctions with 101 Dutch university students, manipulating the positioning strategy and a certified animal welfare label and measuring participants’ willingness to pay (WTP) for a lunch meal with chicken meat. Results indicate that all manipulations significantly increase consumer WTP, with higher WTP for certified labels than for the positioning strategy, and the highest WTP for the combination of both elements (without providing evidence for an interaction effect). This implies that companies should combine positioning strategies that emphasize personally relevant benefits with certified labels. Since the effectiveness of such strategies may be limited for consumers with conflicting feelings towards meat, some care should be taken when designing awareness campaigns about the effects of meat consumption
Abstract: There is growing evidence for the beneficial effects of starting oral health prevention early in life. Preventing dental caries in very young children requires considerable investment from parents. Therefore, this cross-sectional study aimed to explore parents’ willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to invest in time (WTIT) for primary oral health prevention in preschool children and describe whether these are related to the parents’ demographic, socio-economic and behavioural characteristics. In a convenience sample of parents of preschool children aged six months to four years (n = 142), data were collected with questionnaires. On average, parents were willing to pay EUR15.84 per month, invest time for 1.9 dental visits per year, and spend 2.4 min per day brushing their child’s teeth. A higher education level of the mother and having a child older than two were associated with a higher WTIT in brushing minutes per day (p = 0.03). In addition, parents who brushed their child’s teeth more frequently were also more willing to invest in brushing minutes (p < 0.01) and money (p < 0.01). Findings emphasise the importance of early oral health interventions and the need to increase awareness of primary prevention’s importance in maintaining healthy teeth and reducing possibly oral health inequalities.
The production, use, disposal and recovery of packaging not only generates massive volumes of waste, it also consumes raw materials, water and energy (Fitzpatrick et al. 2012). Simultaneously, consumers have shown an increasing interest in products incorporating sustainable and social attributes (Kletzan et al., 2006). As a result, environmentally friendly packaging, also called ecofriendly or sustainable packaging, has become mainstream. In this context, packaging is more than just ensuring the product's protection and easing transportation, it is also a communicative tool (Palmer, 2000) and it becomes associated with multiple drivers of the purchasing process. Consequently, companies face pressure to innovate responding to consumer demands, and focusing on sustainable solutions that reduce harmful materials and favour green alternatives for both, the product and the packaging. Although the above has triggered research on consumer choice for sustainable products and alternatives on sustainable packaging, the relation between sustainable packaging and consumer behaviour remains underexplored. This research unpacks this relationship, i.e., empirically verifies which dimensions (recyclability, biodegradability, reusability) of sustainable packaging are perceived and valued by consumers. Put differently, this research investigates consumer behaviour towards the functions of sustainable packaging in terms of product protection, convenience, reliability of information and promotion, and scrutinises the perceived credibility of the associated ethical responsibility claims. It aims to identify those packaging materials and/or sustainability characteristics perceived as more sustainable by consumers as well as the factors influencing actual consumer choice towards sustainable packaged products. We aim to gain more insights in the perceptual frame that different types of consumers apply when exposed to sustainable packaging. To this end, we will make use of revealed preference methods to measure consumer valuations of sustainable packaged products. This game-theoretic approach should provide a more complete depiction of consumers' perceptions and preferences.
We propose to do an experimental study in which we will use 360 video and still photo simulations that portray varying levels of crowding. Simulations will be presented to 25 student participants and 25 older adult participants (65+; a lucrative tourist segment) in an experimental setting while signals of their emotional responses are recorded from their brain (EEG) and body (skin conductivity and heart rate) at our Experience Measurement Lab. A questionnaire will measure their intent to recommend and their willingness to pay for the ‘experiences’ (simulations) they have viewed. Analyses will determine optimal levels of crowding for the quality of the tourist experience, but also for income at the destination, accounting for the fact that a more crowded destination features more potential sources of income (visitors), but each a (possibly) different level of willingness to pay, including potential implications for local tourist taxes. Models will also account for possibly different processes in the two different age groups. Furthermore, modelling word-of-mouth/mouse marketing based on intent to recommend will also make it possible to predict how crowding affects demand long-term. Partner: KU Leuven.
De creatieve industrie speelt een hoofdrol bij het bedenken van oplossingen waarmee de betalingsbereidheid (Willingness To Pay, WTP) van consumenten voor duurzame natuurlijke voedingsproducten verhoogd kan worden. Mensen zijn vanuit jarenlange marktwerking en commerciële communicatie gewend geraakt aan ‘every day low prices’. Hierdoor beweegt hun waardeperceptie nauwelijks mee met het aanbod van duurzame, en daarmee vaak ook duurdere productvarianten. Extra barrière is dat mensen geneigd zijn te denken dat natuurlijke producten zoals groenten of vis, van nature duurzaam zijn terwijl dat niet altijd zo is. Hierdoor is het moeilijk om mensen bereid te krijgen een ‘fair price’ te betalen voor duurzaam geproduceerde voedingsproducten. Dit zet druk op de continuïteit van investeringen in de verduurzaming van de productieketens. Pure kennisoverdracht naar consumenten, zoals via informatieve campagnes, werkt deels. Creatieve bureaus exploreren alternatieve interventietechnieken, maar hen ontbreekt fundamenteel inzicht in deze materie om gericht innovatieve creatieve methoden te ontwikkelen, en te weten welke wanneer in te zetten. Een eerste verkenning van de wetenschappelijke literatuur wijst uit dat er beperkte kennis aanwezig is over hoe de WTP van duurzame producten tot stand komt, en hoe deze positief te beïnvloeden is; al helemaal ten aanzien van duurzame voedingsproducten. Dit vraagt om fundamentele kennisontwikkeling, met daaropvolgend innovatie van kansrijke interventietechnieken door de creatieve industrie. De huidige aanvraag is bedoeld om allereerst gestructureerd literatuuronderzoek en praktijk-casestudies onderzoek te faciliteren. Dit leidt tot de ontwikkeling van een conceptueel kader (werknaam ‘Consumer Sustainability Value Perception’ model) van waaruit empirisch onderzoek naar innovatieve creatieve interventies opgezet en uitgevoerd kan worden. Uitgangspunt is dat inzicht in de psychologische principes van fair prices, waardeperceptie en WTP de creatieve industrie helpt om effectieve interventies te ontwerpen en toetsen. Daarmee kunnen zij hun clientèle in de duurzame voedingssector ondersteunen. Dit project draagt specifiek bij aan KIA Veerkracht en KIA Landbouw, Water en Voedsel.
