IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/v53y2021i3p315-328.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mitigating hypothetical bias by defaulting to opt-out in an online choice

Author

Listed:
  • Jerrod Penn
  • Wuyang Hu

Abstract

Hypothetical Bias (HB) is an ongoing concern for welfare estimates generated from stated preference approaches. Employing a default option has been shown to affect decision-making and outcomes in a variety of settings. We implement a split-sample design to study the effect of setting the opt-out alternative as a default choice in a Choice Experiment. Our results show that making the opt-out a default significantly decreases the willingness to pay for attributes, indicative of the presence and mitigation of potential HB. Defaulting to the opt-out alternative also causes considerable shifts in the rank of value among the attributes. This study is conducted in the context of proactive protection against bed bugs, an understudied but vexing issue to resource and recreation management as well as to the broader hospitality industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Jerrod Penn & Wuyang Hu, 2021. "Mitigating hypothetical bias by defaulting to opt-out in an online choice," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(3), pages 315-328, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:53:y:2021:i:3:p:315-328
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2020.1808172
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2020.1808172
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00036846.2020.1808172?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Haghani, Milad & Bliemer, Michiel C.J. & Rose, John M. & Oppewal, Harmen & Lancsar, Emily, 2021. "Hypothetical bias in stated choice experiments: Part II. Conceptualisation of external validity, sources and explanations of bias and effectiveness of mitigation methods," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    2. Kelvin Balcombe & Dylan Bradley & Iain Fraser, 2021. "Consumer Preferences for Chlorine Washed Chicken, Attitudes to Brexit and Trade Agreements," Studies in Economics 2112, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    3. Balcombe, Kelvin & Bradley, Dylan & Fraser, Iain, 2022. "Consumer preferences for chlorine-washed chicken, attitudes to Brexit and implications for future trade agreements," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

    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:taf:applec:v:53:y:2021:i:3:p:315-328. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    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.