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Consumers preferences and social sustainability: a discrete choice experiment on ‘Quality Agricultural Work’ ethical label in the Italian fruit sector

Author

Listed:
  • Eleonora Sofia Rossi

    (University of Tuscia)

  • Luca Cacchiarelli

    (University of Tuscia)

  • Simone Severini

    (University of Tuscia)

  • Alessandro Sorrentino

    (University of Tuscia)

Abstract

The Italian legislator has adopted several instruments to discourage undeclared work and exploitative labour in agriculture, mostly of a penal-repressive nature. Among the direct and indirect policy measures, the ‘Quality Agricultural Work Network’ represents an interesting approach to producing a ‘whitelist’ of farmers compliant with labour regulations. A law proposal intends to establish the ‘Quality Agricultural Work’ (QAW) ethical label to incentivise farmers to join the network, to which a limited percentage of farms have signed up. This study aims to investigate consumer preferences for the QAW label in the Italian fruit sector. We conducted a choice experiment on a sample of 324 consumers. Willingness to pay for ethical labels was estimated before and after information treatment was administered to evaluate the prospective effects of promotional and information campaigns. The information treatment conveyed a clear and concise message about the QAW project and its ethical label. The results show that consumers would pay a high price premium for fruit produced under fair working conditions, indicating that there may be a market space for the QAW label. Moreover, consumers perceive environmental and social sustainability claims as complementary contexts where both dimensions of sustainability are relevant. Graphical abstract

Suggested Citation

  • Eleonora Sofia Rossi & Luca Cacchiarelli & Simone Severini & Alessandro Sorrentino, 2024. "Consumers preferences and social sustainability: a discrete choice experiment on ‘Quality Agricultural Work’ ethical label in the Italian fruit sector," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agfoec:v:12:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1186_s40100-024-00307-9
    DOI: 10.1186/s40100-024-00307-9
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agricultural labour; Fair working conditions; Quality Agricultural Work Network; Ethical consumption; Social sustainability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • J43 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Agricultural Labor Markets
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy

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