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Effect of Environmental and Altruistic Attitudes on Willingness-to-Pay for Organic and Fair Trade Coffee in Flanders

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  • Leonard Maaya

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, KU Leuven, Naamsestraat 69, 3000 Leuven, Belgium)

  • Michel Meulders

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, KU Leuven, Naamsestraat 69, 3000 Leuven, Belgium)

  • Nick Surmont

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, KU Leuven, Naamsestraat 69, 3000 Leuven, Belgium)

  • Martina Vandebroek

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, KU Leuven, Naamsestraat 69, 3000 Leuven, Belgium)

Abstract

Sustainability labels, on food products, provide information to consumers that the product has been produced in an ethical and environmentally friendly way. We explore the knowledge and purchasing behaviour of the organic label and fair trade label. Secondly, we investigate the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for food products bearing organic and fair trade labels. Thirdly, we examine the effects of demographic characteristics and environmental and altruistic attitudes on WTP for both organic and fair trade labels. Lastly, we evaluate the correlation in WTP for organic and fair trade labels. We draw our conclusions by analyzing a stated choice experiment on consumers’ coffee buying behaviour in Flanders, Belgium. Our results suggest that knowledge of the fair trade label is higher than that of the organic label. The importance of the organic and fair trade labels on coffee purchase decisions, as well as their WTP estimates, were similar. We found a high correlation in WTP for both labels. Our results indicate significant effects of environmental and altruistic attitudes on WTP for both organic and fair trade labels as they apply to coffee.

Suggested Citation

  • Leonard Maaya & Michel Meulders & Nick Surmont & Martina Vandebroek, 2018. "Effect of Environmental and Altruistic Attitudes on Willingness-to-Pay for Organic and Fair Trade Coffee in Flanders," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:12:p:4496-:d:186412
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    3. Manuela Vega-Zamora & Manuel Parras-Rosa & Francisco José Torres-Ruiz, 2020. "You Are What You Eat: The Relationship between Values and Organic Food Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-13, May.
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    5. Jorge A. Valenciano-Salazar & Francisco J. André & Mario Soliño, 2021. "Paying for Sustainable Coffee in a Developing Country: Consumers’ Profile in Costa Rica," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-15, August.
    6. Tamaki Kitagawa & Kenichi Kashiwagi & Hiroko Isoda, 2020. "Effect of Religious and Cultural Information of Olive Oil on Consumer Behavior: Evidence from Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-17, January.
    7. Adam Czudec, 2022. "The Altruistic Behaviour of Consumers Who Prefer a Local Origin of Organic Food," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-12, April.
    8. Veenarat Ut-tha & Pai-Po Lee & Rebecca Chung, 2021. "Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Coffee: A Case of Thai Consumers," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, October.
    9. Fenna Arnoldussen & Mark J. Koetse & Sander M. de Bruyn & Onno Kuik, 2022. "What Are People Willing to Pay for Social Sustainability? A Choice Experiment among Dutch Consumers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-21, November.
    10. Georgia Papoutsi & Pantelis Noulas & Katerina Tsatoura, 2022. "Animals or Humans: What Do Greek Consumers Care More about When Buying Feta Cheese?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
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    13. Meike Rombach & David L. Dean & Nicole J. Olynk Widmar & Vera Bitsch, 2021. "The Ethically Conscious Flower Consumer: Understanding Fair Trade Cut Flower Purchase Behavior in Germany," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-16, November.
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