Paying for the Greater Good?—What Information Matters for Beijing Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Plant-Based Meat?
Promoting the transition from animal meat to plant-based food consumption has significant benefits for public health and environmental sustainability. This study, involving 526 consumers from Beijing, China, explores how food attributes and information may affect consumers’ food choices concerning p...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Foods |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/11/16/2460 |
| _version_ | 1797410172002369536 |
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| author | Hongsha Wang Qihui Chen Chen Zhu Jiale Bao |
| author_facet | Hongsha Wang Qihui Chen Chen Zhu Jiale Bao |
| author_sort | Hongsha Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Promoting the transition from animal meat to plant-based food consumption has significant benefits for public health and environmental sustainability. This study, involving 526 consumers from Beijing, China, explores how food attributes and information may affect consumers’ food choices concerning plant-based meat products. A discrete choice experiment was conducted using burgers with five attributes (meat patties, flavor, sodium content, energy, and price) as the focal product. Separate messages on nutrition, food safety, and the environmental issues related to plant-based meat consumption were also randomly provided to consumers to help examine the role of information. Our findings suggest that Beijing consumers’ awareness of plant-based meat is relatively low at present, and they show a negative preference toward plant-based meat consumption relative to that of conventional meat. However, consumers’ willingness to pay for plant-based meat significantly increased after nutrition information was provided, but it was not responsive to the provision of food safety or environmental information. These findings suggest that to promote plant-based meat consumption, information closely related to consumers’ personal interests rather the “greater good” should be provided, at least in the context of Beijing, China. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:26:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a5ddc0cc01d443f188c56edba9626299 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2304-8158 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:26:03Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Foods |
| spelling | doaj.art-a5ddc0cc01d443f188c56edba96262992023-12-03T13:40:26ZengMDPI AGFoods2304-81582022-08-011116246010.3390/foods11162460Paying for the Greater Good?—What Information Matters for Beijing Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Plant-Based Meat?Hongsha Wang0Qihui Chen1Chen Zhu2Jiale Bao3College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, ChinaBeijing Food Safety Policy & Strategy Research Base, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, ChinaCollege of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, ChinaCollege of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, ChinaPromoting the transition from animal meat to plant-based food consumption has significant benefits for public health and environmental sustainability. This study, involving 526 consumers from Beijing, China, explores how food attributes and information may affect consumers’ food choices concerning plant-based meat products. A discrete choice experiment was conducted using burgers with five attributes (meat patties, flavor, sodium content, energy, and price) as the focal product. Separate messages on nutrition, food safety, and the environmental issues related to plant-based meat consumption were also randomly provided to consumers to help examine the role of information. Our findings suggest that Beijing consumers’ awareness of plant-based meat is relatively low at present, and they show a negative preference toward plant-based meat consumption relative to that of conventional meat. However, consumers’ willingness to pay for plant-based meat significantly increased after nutrition information was provided, but it was not responsive to the provision of food safety or environmental information. These findings suggest that to promote plant-based meat consumption, information closely related to consumers’ personal interests rather the “greater good” should be provided, at least in the context of Beijing, China.https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/11/16/2460information shocksustainable food consumptionplant-based meatfood attributeswillingness to paychoice experiment |
| spellingShingle | Hongsha Wang Qihui Chen Chen Zhu Jiale Bao Paying for the Greater Good?—What Information Matters for Beijing Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Plant-Based Meat? Foods information shock sustainable food consumption plant-based meat food attributes willingness to pay choice experiment |
| title | Paying for the Greater Good?—What Information Matters for Beijing Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Plant-Based Meat? |
| title_full | Paying for the Greater Good?—What Information Matters for Beijing Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Plant-Based Meat? |
| title_fullStr | Paying for the Greater Good?—What Information Matters for Beijing Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Plant-Based Meat? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Paying for the Greater Good?—What Information Matters for Beijing Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Plant-Based Meat? |
| title_short | Paying for the Greater Good?—What Information Matters for Beijing Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Plant-Based Meat? |
| title_sort | paying for the greater good what information matters for beijing consumers willingness to pay for plant based meat |
| topic | information shock sustainable food consumption plant-based meat food attributes willingness to pay choice experiment |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/11/16/2460 |
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