Journal
AGRIBUSINESS
Volume 37, Issue 3, Pages 550-568Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/agr.21680
Keywords
locally produced; multivariate Tobit model; sensory evaluation; strawberry; willingness to pay
Funding
- Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
- USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch project [FLA-FRE-005292]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study found that providing locality information on food products can influence consumers' perception of the attributes of food, including search, experience, and credence attributes. Before tasting, color, size, and freshness play a significant role in consumers' willingness to pay, while flavor and texture become more influential after tasting.
Previous research mainly focuses on the impact of locality information/labels on consumer preference as a credence attribute that is not observable even after purchasing the products. We hypothesize that locality information on food may also influence consumer perception of the three types of attributes of food products: search (i.e., color, size, freshness, and shape), experience (i.e., flavor and texture), and other credence attributes (i.e., nutritional value). We conduct an experiment with a total of 100 participants. We combine the consumer sensory analysis with the CVM to determine the impact of locality information on consumers' perception of strawberry search, experience, and credence attributes, and how these three types of attributes affect consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) at different consumption stages. Results show that providing locality information affects the sensory attributes of color perceived by consumers. Color, size, and freshness have a significant impact on consumers' WTP before consumers taste the strawberries, while flavor and texture exhibit an influential impact on consumers' WTP after tasting. Locality information is not a significant factor in determining consumers' WTP before and after they taste the strawberries. However, for some consumers, it significantly affects their WTP if locality is perceived to be associated with improved nutritional quality and food safety comparing to people who perceive local food to be fresher.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available