Consumers' Preferences and Motives for Pro-environment Purchasing Behavior: An Empirical Analysis Based on the Choice Experiment

The present study attempts to separate the environmental motivation and healthy motivation of consumers' choice for pro-environmental products through choice experiment and latent class model. Moreover, the different motives behind pro-environmental purchase and its impact on heterogeneity of consumer preferences needs to be further examined. Data are collected by means of face-to-face interview in Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Guangdong of China with a total sample size of 477 consumers. The results reveal that the consumers who are willing to buy pro-environmental products are motivated by health benefits as well as environmental considerations due to the higher consciousness of food safety and eco-environment in China. However, the healthy attributes tend to prevail in consumers' motivations. Consumers who have stronger environmental motivation will show higher preferences for pro-environmental products. It is also found that these consumers have the following characteristics: higher perception and knowledge of pro-environmental products，lower income , convenient purchase and female. Our results have implications for the improvement of government's consumption policies and the precision marketing of producers to induce consumers' participation to buy pro-environmental products, which in turn do a great benefit to environmental-friendly production and sustainable environment.