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Can willingness-to-pay values be manipulated? Evidence from an organic food experiment in China

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  • Xiaohua Yu
  • Binjian Yan
  • Zhifeng Gao

Abstract

Human behaviors are driven by implicit and explicit motives. Psychologists have developed two main tools, namely time pressure and cognitive load, to disentangle the two motives. This implies values of willingness to pay (WTP) may be sensitive to time pressure and cognitive load levels in practice. An experiment with 233 students was conducted in China to study the willingness to pay for organic food with consideration of different time pressures and cognitive load levels. Results show that (1) increasing cognitive load could significantly reduce consumers’ WTP for organic food; and (2) time pressure does not have a significant impact on WTP values. Such results suggest researchers should be particularly cautious about the cognitive load situations of respondents during a WTP survey.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaohua Yu & Binjian Yan & Zhifeng Gao, 2014. "Can willingness-to-pay values be manipulated? Evidence from an organic food experiment in China," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(S1), pages 119-127, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:45:y:2014:i:s1:p:119-127
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    2. Lijia Shi & Jing Xie & Zhifeng Gao, 2018. "The impact of deal†proneness on WTP estimates in incentive†aligned value elicitation methods," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(3), pages 353-362, May.
    3. Ortega, David L. & Wang, H. Holly & Wu, Laping & Hong, Soo Jeong, 2015. "Retail channel and consumer demand for food quality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 359-366.
    4. Sangchoul Yi, 2019. "Willingness-to-Pay for Sustainable Aquaculture Products: Evidence from Korean Red Seabream Aquaculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-13, March.
    5. Zhou, De & Yu, Xiaohua & Herzfeld, Thomas, 2015. "Dynamic food demand in urban China," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 27-44.
    6. Satoru Shimokawa & Dezhuang Hu & Dandan Li & Hong Cheng, 2021. "The urban–rural gap in the demand for food safety in China: The role of food label knowledge," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 52(2), pages 175-193, March.
    7. Cokou Patrice Kpadé & Edouard Roméo Mensah & Michel Fok & Jupiter Ndjeunga, 2017. "Cotton farmers’ willingness to pay for pest management services in northern Benin," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 48(1), pages 105-114, January.
    8. Shiwen Quan & Yinchu Zeng & Xiaohua Yu & Te Bao, 2018. "WTP for baby milk formula in China: Using attribute nonattendance as a priori information to select attributes in choice experiment," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(2), pages 300-320, March.
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