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Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Consumer Food Safety Perceptions—A Choice-Based Willingness to Pay Study

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  • Oliver Meixner

    (Institute of Marketing and Innovation, Department of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, A-1180 Vienna, Austria)

  • Felix Katt

    (Institute of Marketing and Innovation, Department of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, A-1180 Vienna, Austria)

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic brings about sudden change in societies across the globe and likely heralds the start of a recession, we examine the pandemic’s impact on consumer food safety perceptions. Due to its origin, COVID-19, likely spurring from an animal-to-human transmission in the context of a wet market, may impact consumer food perceptions in similar ways to the avian flu (H5N1) and the swine flu (H1N1). We examine this effect by studying preferences for beef meat in a consumer survey in the United States ( n = 999) using a choice-based experiment. We compare our findings to Lim et al. (2014), who elicited consumer beef willingness to pay (WTP). Additionally, we investigate the impact of the looming recession by analyzing several attributes and their effect on consumer preferences. Our findings suggest that food safety concerns have become more important. As a result, production standards and the country of origin have lost importance. Additionally, we show that the socioeconomic impact for some respondents impacts their shopping preferences. Finally, we outline potential areas for future research as well as managerial implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Oliver Meixner & Felix Katt, 2020. "Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Consumer Food Safety Perceptions—A Choice-Based Willingness to Pay Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:18:p:7270-:d:409228
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Adrián Bifaretti & Enrique Pavan & Gabriela Grigioni, 2023. "Consumer Attitudes and Concerns about Beef Consumption in Argentina and Other South American Countries," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-21, February.
    2. Yu-Ping Wei, 2021. "The Effect of Food Safety-Related Attributes on Customer Satisfaction of Ready-to-Eat Foods at Hypermarkets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-11, September.
    3. Ming Liu, 2021. "The Effects of Organic Certification on Shoppers’ Purchase Intention Formation in Taiwan: A Multi-Group Analysis of Structural Invariance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.

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