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This study investigates UK consumers’ perception and willingness to pay (WTP) for egg attributes associated with laying hen welfare, namely with beak-trimming practices and injurious feather pecking (IP). The aim is to examine any change in WTP after improved consumer awareness.

Building upon existing literature, the authors designed an online survey in which the method of discrete choice experiment (DCE) was employed. The study includes two identical DCEs with the second being introduced after respondents were presented with an educational excerpt about beak-trimming practices, on farm IP occurrence and the docile nature of white egg laying hens – reducing IP.

The mixed logit regression model demonstrated that consumers' WTP for egg attributes associated with beak trimming and IP decreased in the second DCE (12.6% for organic and 2.55% for free-range). For eggshell colour, the analysis revealed a shift from a preference to brown eggs to indifference between eggshell colours.

Overall, UK consumers have a preference in higher hen welfare resulting in a decrease in WTP once they are aware of welfare losses in current systems; however, more insights are required in terms of the promotion of white shelled eggs as a means of reducing IP on UK farms.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer preferences for boxes of eggs which are produced without the culling of male layer-type chicks in layer hen production and, furthermore, to investigate consumer preferences for labels from different certifying bodies.

An online survey including a discrete choice experiment was conducted among 526 German consumers in 2018 and early 2019. Mixed logit models in preference and willingness to pay (WTP) space were estimated.

The preferred alternative is gender determination of incubated eggs, but also dual-use (DU) poultry with free-range rearing of cockerels was approved. Labels from public authorities and the Animal Protection Organisation were highly approved. In contrast, retailers were not considered suitable for the certification of production claims.

A hypothetical setting was employed. A revealed preferences approach is suggested for future research.

Evidence for a wide approval of in ovo gender determination was found. Free-range rearing of cockerels was the most promising for the marketing of DU poultry products. Furthermore, public authorities and well-established third parties should engage in the field of animal welfare labelling.

This is the first study focussing on preferences and WTP for alternatives to chick culling, which will soon be available on the market, and for institutions certifying production claims. Findings help political decision makers, when looking for alternatives to the culling of day-old chicks, which are considered more acceptable by the public.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the consumer acceptance of foods that are pesticide-free while obtained by cisgenics, a form of genetic modification that only allows gene transfers between sexually compatible species. Potential differences in acceptance between conventional and organic consumer segments are explored.

Data were collected from a survey, including a choice experiment, which was distributed to a consumer panel in Denmark. Survey responses were combined with actual purchase data among the same respondents and thereby providing information about the respondents’ share of organic consumption.

No consumer segment differentiated between pesticide-free, cisgenic bread and conventional alternatives. Conventional consumers preferred cisgenics over transgenics, while pesticide-free is not highly valued. Frequent organic consumers were having willingness-to-pay (WTP) a large premium for organic, indicating that they will continue to purchase such products even if cisgenic, pesticide-free products are introduced.

This paper provides insights on the potential reception of cisgenic food, and if there is a positive willingness to pay for a pesticide-free label if this is cisgenics. Moreover, the possibility to allow new breeding techniques in the organic requirements has been discussed, and this paper contributes with insights on the organic consumers’ preferences on this matter.

Digital credit is spreading rapidly across Sub-Saharan Africa and holds potential for financial inclusion and female financial autonomy. Women in developing economies have long been targeted by microfinance institutions due to the women’s reliability and positive spillover effects. Yet, adoption rates for digital financial innovations remain moderate among rural women in Sub-Saharan Africa. The authors explore whether female preferences for digital and conventional credit differ from males.

The authors conduct a Discrete Choice Experiment with 420 smallholder farmers in central Madagascar, one of the region's poorest countries, to assess preferences for selected digital and conventional credit attributes.

Results of the mixed logit model and the comparison of the willingness-to-pay via Poe-test suggest high general demand for both credit forms. The demand of female respondents is higher than that of males, suggesting that they might be underserved. This holds for both credit forms. However, differences in willingness to pay for the credit attributes are mostly not statistically significant, indicating that designing gender-specific services may not be advisable.

This article is believed to be the first to assess and compare gendered willingness to pay for digital and conventional credit. The study’s findings give valuable insights to decision-makers in development politics as well as the fintech industry.

Art-infusion has become a common practice among brands across the globe. This is because marketers leverage the uniqueness and prestige of arts to earn superior profits. Hence, this research aims to understand and measure consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for art-infused products.

A questionnaire was designed based on conjoint analysis and was responded to by 470 respondents from India. The estimation of preference functions in conjoint analysis was intended to use orthogonal arrays to measure WTP.

The study reveals consumers' utility and WTP for different art-infused products. The results indicated that consumers have the highest WTP for products that have artwork dominated by the visual elements of colour, shapes and space.

The paper presents valuable findings for marketers to develop their product design and earn superior profits.

This is the first study in the domain of the art infusion phenomenon that measures WTP for non-luxury art-infused products. Also, this is the first study to measure WTP for different kinds of art forms.

In times of “milk price crises”, “fair” milk prices are repeatedly demanded. Various studies indicate an increased willingness to pay (WTP) for the additional attribute of price fairness. Nevertheless, market shares have been low so far. The purpose of this paper is to discuss three possible reasons for this: low reference prices, socially desirable responses in choice experiments and the lack of justification of the claim “fair” by further attributes.

In a split sample, one group facing alternatives with a higher price range and the other with a lower price range, the consumer’s choices are examined. This study uses a social desirability scale for controlling biases in the stated WTP. In addition, the claim “fair” is complemented with a guaranteed price, grazing, regional production and CO₂-reduction. A random parameter logit model specified in WTP space is employed to estimate milk consumers’ (n=480) preferences for “fair” milk. Furthermore, a latent class approach reveals information about the source of preference heterogeneity for fair milk attributes among the two groups of the split sample.

This study finds statistically significant differences between the two price ranges. In the low price range, additional attributes can trigger an additional WTP. In the high price range, there is no statistically significant additional WTP. WTP’s dependence on price levels could explain why the market share for “fair” milk has so far been low.

This paper contributes to the study of the effect of split samples in choice experiments. In addition, it promotes the understanding of price fairness in milk and its determinants.

The objective is to determine if consumer preferences for grocery purchasing are impacted by the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and whether these preferences differ by demographic and psychographic characteristics.

The authors conduct an online discrete choice experiment (DCE) with 900 U.S. consumers to assess grocery shopping preferences under various scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e. decreasing, constant and increasing cases). The attribute of interest is the purchasing method (i.e. in-store purchase, in-store pickup, curbside pickup and home delivery) with minimum order requirements, time windows and fees as secondary attributes. Heterogeneity in individual-level willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimates for the main attribute is analyzed by means of mixed logit and quantile regression techniques.

The mixed logit model reveals heterogeneity in WTP estimates for grocery purchasing methods across participants. According to estimates from quantile regressions, the heterogeneity is partly explained by the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the home delivery purchasing method is less preferred when the number of cases is decreasing. The results also show that consumer preferences for grocery shopping methods are affected more by psychographic characteristics than demographic characteristics. Consumers who comply with COVID-19 directives (e.g. wear face coverings) have stronger preferences for curbside pickup and home delivery, particularly at the tails of the WTP distributions.

Although there is much data on food consumer behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic at the aggregate level, there are few analyses of grocery shopping preferences at the individual level. The study represents a first attempt to relate individuals' demographic and psychographic characteristics to their grocery shopping preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus yielding numerous recommendations in terms of consumer segmentation.

Food service establishments and online food delivery companies use a revenue share model based on a commission rate. Because of the asymmetry of bargaining power, many food service establishments are vulnerable to a high commission rate. What is missing in the ongoing discussion about the revenue share model is the perspective of food consumers, who are the third party in the multi-sided market.

Within a willingness-to-pay (WTP) framework, we study if food consumers have preferences for the commission rate charged by food delivery companies to food service establishments. With 456 random consumers in the United States, we conduct a controlled experiment in which information is used as treatment in two groups. In the first group, the provided information only relates to the revenue share model (i.e. economic). In the second group, participants also received information about price control initiatives (i.e. economic and political).

Based on WTP-space mixed logit model results, there is a significant effect of information on preferences for the commission rate. While participants in the control group exhibited no aversion to the commission rate, participants who received treatment had a significant and negative WTP. The magnitude of the effect is estimated at -$1.08 for participants in the first treatment and -$2.28 for participants in the second treatment.

To date there is no applied research on the preferences of consumers in the online food order and delivery industry with respect to upstream conditions (i.e. commission rates).

Patients and health professionals often make decisions which involve a choice between discrete alternatives. This chapter reviews the econometric methods which have been developed for modelling discrete choices and their application in the health economics literature. We start by reviewing the multinomial and mixed logit models and then consider issues such as scale heterogeneity, estimation in willingness to pay space and attribute non-attendance.