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What's in a name: Framing treated wastewater as recycled water increases willingness to use and willingness to pay

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  • Menegaki, Angeliki N.
  • Mellon, Robert C.
  • Vrentzou, Anna
  • Koumakis, George
  • Tsagarakis, Konstantinos P.

Abstract

The experiment described in this paper compares the effects of descriptive terms on farmers' willingness to use and willingness to pay for recycled water for irrigation and consumers' willingness to use and willingness to pay for products irrigated with recycled water. In the descriptive materials and questionnaire items used in a field survey, treated effluent from wastewater treatment plants was described as "recycled water" for one experimental group and as "treated wastewater" for another. Although the two terms describe the same commodity (i.e. purified effluent from wastewater treatment facilities) willingness to use was reliably higher with the "recycled water" descriptor for both farmers and consumers. In contrast, the descriptor affected willingness to pay only in the consumer sample; decisions about personal consumption of food products might be more affected by the differential disgust-eliciting effectiveness of descriptors than farmers' business decisions concerning the irrigation of products to be consumed by others. Respondents of both samples who were unwilling to use recycled water commodities most often cited feelings of disgust as the main cause of their rejection, supporting the view that successful marketing strategies for this valuable resource must take into account the normative learning histories of potential consumers.

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  • Menegaki, Angeliki N. & Mellon, Robert C. & Vrentzou, Anna & Koumakis, George & Tsagarakis, Konstantinos P., 2009. "What's in a name: Framing treated wastewater as recycled water increases willingness to use and willingness to pay," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 285-292, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:30:y:2009:i:3:p:285-292
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Menegaki, Angeliki N. & Hanley, Nick & Tsagarakis, Konstantinos P., 2007. "The social acceptability and valuation of recycled water in Crete: A study of consumers' and farmers' attitudes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 7-18, April.
    2. Toze, Simon, 2006. "Reuse of effluent water--benefits and risks," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 80(1-3), pages 147-159, February.
    3. Tsagarakis, K. P. & Dialynas, G. E. & Angelakis, A. N., 2004. "Water resources management in Crete (Greece) including water recycling and reuse and proposed quality criteria," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 35-47, April.
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    4. Paul Rozin & Brent Haddad & Carol Nemeroff & Paul Slovic, 2015. "Psychological aspects of the rejection of recycled water: Contamination, purification and disgust," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 10(1), pages 50-63, January.
    5. Eric C. Edwards & Todd Guilfoos, 2021. "The Economics of Groundwater Governance Institutions across the Globe," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(4), pages 1571-1594, December.
    6. Ricart, Sandra & Rico, Antonio M., 2019. "Assessing technical and social driving factors of water reuse in agriculture: A review on risks, regulation and the yuck factor," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 426-439.
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    8. Ben Brahim-Neji, Hella & Ruiz-Villaverde, Alberto & González-Gómez, Francisco, 2014. "Decision aid supports for evaluating agricultural water reuse practices in Tunisia: The Cebala perimeter," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 113-121.
    9. Almuktar, S.A.A.A.N. & Scholz, M. & Al-Isawi, R.H.K. & Sani, A., 2015. "Recycling of domestic wastewater treated by vertical-flow wetlands for irrigating Chillies and Sweet Peppers," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 1-22.
    10. Carr, Gemma & Potter, Robert B. & Nortcliff, Stephen, 2011. "Water reuse for irrigation in Jordan: Perceptions of water quality among farmers," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(5), pages 847-854, March.
    11. Sina Nitzko & Achim Spiller, 2019. "Comparing “Leaf-to-Root”, “Nose-to-Tail” and Other Efficient Food Utilization Options from a Consumer Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-21, September.

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