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Which Consumers Are Most Responsive to Media-Induced Food Scares?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Collin R. Payne ,
Kent D. Messer  and
Harry M. Kaiser
Collin R. Payne
Affiliation:
Marketing at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico
Kent D. Messer
Affiliation:
Food and Resource Economics at University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware
Harry M. Kaiser
Affiliation:
Applied Economics and Management in the Department of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York
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Abstract

In understanding decreases in demand after exposure to media-induced food scares, aggregate data are almost exclusively presented without taking into consideration potential confounding variables. However, a better approach may be to use an experimental design coupled with targeting homogeneous willingness-to-pay (WTP) subgroups based on similarities in behavioral, psychological, and demographic characteristics of those who are most vulnerable to food scare information. This is accomplished through experimental economics and an analysis strategy called a classification and regression tree (CART). A stigma framework—which guides conceptual understanding of effects of media-induced food scares—suggests controlling contextual variables to better approximate ceteris paribus. To this end, we conducted an experiment that exposed people to information about mad cow disease and then asked them to bid their willingness-to-pay for an actual hamburger. The CART found distinct homogeneous WTP subgroups of individuals that could be used by government and industry professionals to create interventions to reduce potential consumer concern and producer losses.

Keywords

food scaremediaclassification and regression treemad cow diseasestigma
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , December 2009 , pp. 295 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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