IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jconsa/v55y2021i4p1249-1273.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Price of Hope—Insights into rhino horn consumption in health‐related contexts in Vietnam

Author

Listed:
  • Hieu P. Nguyen
  • Hanh T. M. Nguyen
  • Huyen T. Pham

Abstract

This study investigates the interplay between social, cultural, and psychological factors that underlie rhino horn consumption for health‐related purposes in Vietnam, one of the world's major markets for rhino horn. Regarded as a panacea, rhino horn is used by Vietnamese consumers to treat a vast array of illnesses, including life‐threatening ones such as cancer, without any scientific evidence of its medicinal properties and effectiveness. Insatiable demand by Vietnamese consumers has driven rhino horn price to exceed that of gold. Using a qualitative approach, we show the process through which Vietnamese consumers form their beliefs and attitudes, normalize and justify their usage of rhino horn. We also demonstrate the roles that cultural and social norms play in the consumption of rhino horn among Vietnamese consumers. Drawing from these insights, we recommend a multi‐pronged approach for the development of programs that aim to combat and curb rhino horn purchase and consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Hieu P. Nguyen & Hanh T. M. Nguyen & Huyen T. Pham, 2021. "The Price of Hope—Insights into rhino horn consumption in health‐related contexts in Vietnam," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 1249-1273, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jconsa:v:55:y:2021:i:4:p:1249-1273
    DOI: 10.1111/joca.12342
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12342
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/joca.12342?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sherry, John F, Jr, 1983. "Gift Giving in Anthropological Perspective," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 10(2), pages 157-168, September.
    2. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Tversky, Amos & Kahneman, Daniel, 1992. "Advances in Prospect Theory: Cumulative Representation of Uncertainty," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 5(4), pages 297-323, October.
    4. Nicholas Epley & Thomas Gilovich, 2016. "The Mechanics of Motivated Reasoning," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 133-140, Summer.
    5. Nick Hanley & Oleg Sheremet & Martina Bozzola & Douglas C. MacMillan, 2017. "The Allure of the Illegal: Choice Modelling of Rhino Horn Demand in Vietnam," Discussion Papers in Environment and Development Economics 2017-05, University of St. Andrews, School of Geography and Sustainable Development.
    6. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    7. Brennan, Andrew John & Kalsi, Jaslin Kaur, 2015. "Elephant poaching & ivory trafficking problems in Sub-Saharan Africa: An application of O'Hara's principles of political economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 312-337.
    8. Gustavo de Mello & Deborah J. MacInnis & David W. Stewart, 2007. "Threats to Hope: Effects on Reasoning about Product Information," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(2), pages 153-161, June.
    9. Suzanne C. Makarem & Michael F. Smith & Susan M. Mudambi & James M. Hunt, 2014. "Why People Do Not Always Follow the Doctor's Orders: The Role of Hope and Perceived Control," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 457-485, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huffman, Wallace, 2009. "Does Information Change Behavior?," Staff General Research Papers Archive 13128, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    2. Korbinian Dress & Stefan Lessmann & Hans-Jorg von Mettenheim, 2017. "Residual Value Forecasting Using Asymmetric Cost Functions," Papers 1707.02736, arXiv.org.
    3. Dirk Helbing, 2013. "Economics 2.0: The Natural Step towards A Self-Regulating, Participatory Market Society," Papers 1305.4078, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2013.
    4. Weinberg, Bruce D. & Davis, Lenita, 2005. "Exploring the WOW in online-auction feedback," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(11), pages 1609-1621, November.
    5. Richard E. Stewart & Barbara D. Stewart, 2001. "The Loss of the Certainty Effect," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 4(2), pages 29-49, September.
    6. F. Knobloch & J. -F. Mercure, 2016. "The behavioural aspect of green technology investments: a general positive model in the context of heterogeneous agents," Papers 1603.06888, arXiv.org.
    7. Anica Veronika Fietz & Sven Grüner, 2017. "Transparency systems: do businesses in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) regret the cancellation of the Smiley scheme?," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Eyal Baharad & Doron Kliger, 2013. "Market failure in light of non-expected utility," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 75(4), pages 599-619, October.
    9. Marco Pleßner, 2017. "The disposition effect: a survey," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 67(1), pages 1-30, February.
    10. Peter P. Wakker & Daniëlle R. M. Timmermans & Irma Machielse, 2007. "The Effects of Statistical Information on Risk and Ambiguity Attitudes, and on Rational Insurance Decisions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(11), pages 1770-1784, November.
    11. Eyal Ert & Ido Erev, 2013. "On the descriptive value of loss aversion in decisions under risk: Six clarifications," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 8(3), pages 214-235, May.
    12. Alessandro Morselli, 2020. "Inequalities between liberal doctrine and Keynesian-oriented conventional economics," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 3, pages 86-117,118-.
    13. Upravitelev, A., 2023. "Neoclassical roots of behavioral economics," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 58(1), pages 110-140.
    14. repec:cup:judgdm:v:8:y:2013:i:3:p:214-235 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Eyal Ert & Ido Erev, 2010. "On the Descriptive Value of Loss Aversion in Decisions under Risk," Harvard Business School Working Papers 10-056, Harvard Business School.
    16. Irma Machielse & Danielle Timmermans & Peter Wakker, 2007. "The effects of statistical information on risk ambiguity attitudes, and on rational insurance decisions," Natural Field Experiments 00338, The Field Experiments Website.
    17. Mustafa Caglayan & Tho Pham & Oleksandr Talavera & Xiong Xiong, 2019. "Asset mispricing in loan secondary markets," Discussion Papers 19-07, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    18. Gerald Spindler, 2011. "Behavioural Finance and Investor Protection Regulations," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 315-336, September.
    19. Thomas Holtfort, 2019. "From standard to evolutionary finance: a literature survey," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 69(2), pages 207-232, June.
    20. Godfrey Cadogan, 2014. "Chaos in a Large System of Decision‐Makers with Heterogeneous Beliefs with Application to Index Option Prices," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 487-501, July.
    21. Bradley, Ian, 2003. "The representative bettor, bet size, and prospect theory," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(3), pages 409-413, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jconsa:v:55:y:2021:i:4:p:1249-1273. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-0078 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.