Influence of social status, physical activity, and socio-demographics on willingness to pay for a basket of organic foods
Abstract Consumers are known to signal social status through their purchasing behaviors. As the food industry continually expands its use of strategic marketing to reach customers, understanding food’s connection to this kind of status signaling may open the door to explore new markets for farmers....
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SpringerOpen
2022-10-01
|
| Series: | Agricultural and Food Economics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40100-022-00233-8 |
| _version_ | 1811226706023809024 |
|---|---|
| author | Julia Knaggs J. Ross Pruitt Lindsay Anderson Marco Palma |
| author_facet | Julia Knaggs J. Ross Pruitt Lindsay Anderson Marco Palma |
| author_sort | Julia Knaggs |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Consumers are known to signal social status through their purchasing behaviors. As the food industry continually expands its use of strategic marketing to reach customers, understanding food’s connection to this kind of status signaling may open the door to explore new markets for farmers. This study explored the influence of social status, physical activity, and socio-demographics on an individual’s willingness to pay for a basket of high-quality organic foods. Over 3 days, participants had their physical activity measured by a pedometer, and they were randomly assigned to a social status condition and subsequently placed bids for the organic food basket using a second-price auction to measure their willingness to pay. High-status individuals were publicly recognized in order to test our hypothesis that individuals will not be motivated to pay more for an organic food basket than low-status counterparts when they have already received recognition for their high status. The results showed that on average non-students were willing to pay significantly more for an organic food basket than student counterparts. Hispanic and Asian shoppers were willing to pay more for an organic food basket than White counterparts. However, physical activity had no significant impact on willingness to pay. Ultimately, our hypothesis was confirmed that recognizing high-status individuals eliminated or reduced the need to showcase social status through higher bids for the organic food baskets. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T09:29:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-02488e25c1aa4ea59f7d15788089ed99 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2193-7532 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T09:29:47Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agricultural and Food Economics |
| spelling | doaj.art-02488e25c1aa4ea59f7d15788089ed992022-12-22T03:38:23ZengSpringerOpenAgricultural and Food Economics2193-75322022-10-0110111410.1186/s40100-022-00233-8Influence of social status, physical activity, and socio-demographics on willingness to pay for a basket of organic foodsJulia Knaggs0J. Ross Pruitt1Lindsay Anderson2Marco Palma3Department of Agriculture, Geosciences, and Natural Resources, University of Tennessee at MartinDepartment of Agriculture, Geosciences, and Natural Resources, University of Tennessee at MartinDepartment of Sociology, Tennessee State UniversityDepartment of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M UniversityAbstract Consumers are known to signal social status through their purchasing behaviors. As the food industry continually expands its use of strategic marketing to reach customers, understanding food’s connection to this kind of status signaling may open the door to explore new markets for farmers. This study explored the influence of social status, physical activity, and socio-demographics on an individual’s willingness to pay for a basket of high-quality organic foods. Over 3 days, participants had their physical activity measured by a pedometer, and they were randomly assigned to a social status condition and subsequently placed bids for the organic food basket using a second-price auction to measure their willingness to pay. High-status individuals were publicly recognized in order to test our hypothesis that individuals will not be motivated to pay more for an organic food basket than low-status counterparts when they have already received recognition for their high status. The results showed that on average non-students were willing to pay significantly more for an organic food basket than student counterparts. Hispanic and Asian shoppers were willing to pay more for an organic food basket than White counterparts. However, physical activity had no significant impact on willingness to pay. Ultimately, our hypothesis was confirmed that recognizing high-status individuals eliminated or reduced the need to showcase social status through higher bids for the organic food baskets.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40100-022-00233-8OrganicPhysical activitySocial statusWillingness to pay |
| spellingShingle | Julia Knaggs J. Ross Pruitt Lindsay Anderson Marco Palma Influence of social status, physical activity, and socio-demographics on willingness to pay for a basket of organic foods Agricultural and Food Economics Organic Physical activity Social status Willingness to pay |
| title | Influence of social status, physical activity, and socio-demographics on willingness to pay for a basket of organic foods |
| title_full | Influence of social status, physical activity, and socio-demographics on willingness to pay for a basket of organic foods |
| title_fullStr | Influence of social status, physical activity, and socio-demographics on willingness to pay for a basket of organic foods |
| title_full_unstemmed | Influence of social status, physical activity, and socio-demographics on willingness to pay for a basket of organic foods |
| title_short | Influence of social status, physical activity, and socio-demographics on willingness to pay for a basket of organic foods |
| title_sort | influence of social status physical activity and socio demographics on willingness to pay for a basket of organic foods |
| topic | Organic Physical activity Social status Willingness to pay |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40100-022-00233-8 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT juliaknaggs influenceofsocialstatusphysicalactivityandsociodemographicsonwillingnesstopayforabasketoforganicfoods AT jrosspruitt influenceofsocialstatusphysicalactivityandsociodemographicsonwillingnesstopayforabasketoforganicfoods AT lindsayanderson influenceofsocialstatusphysicalactivityandsociodemographicsonwillingnesstopayforabasketoforganicfoods AT marcopalma influenceofsocialstatusphysicalactivityandsociodemographicsonwillingnesstopayforabasketoforganicfoods |