Food Risk Perception and Its Impact on the Consumersr Purchasing Behavior

Purpose – The present study aims to use the qualitative approach of soft laddering to gather insight into both risk perception and subsequent marketing strategies of medical tourism. Medical tourism has recently started to spark interest of marketing researchers and has been a frequently discussed topic by both journalists and physicians. Nevertheless, there are only few marketing studies offering in-depth research on the phenomenon of medical tourism. In the present article, we will concentrate on the central notion of risk inherent to any medical procedure and a fortiori to surgery in the so-called Third World countries. Because medical tourism is a product to be sold to costumers, the perceived risk needs to be dealt with on the marketing level. Design/methodology/approach – In the present study, the qualitative approach of soft laddering was used with 23 participants from France and 22 participants from Quebec to gather insight into both risk perception and subsequent marketing strategies of medical tourism. Findings – The results show significant differences in consumer behavior between the two nationalities involved. We will see how these differences are related to underlying values as well as different reasons and constraints to purchase. Practical implications – The results could help developed countries’ government to implement health policy. Originality/value – Qualitative research does not often use soft laddering, which was used in this paper. Moreover, this qualitative approach has some advantages as the number of chains, as well as the frequencies of selection and the diversity of elements quoted by consumers (kinds of risks, values and consequences of the choices made).

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Is Agricultural Emissions Mitigation on the Menu for Tea Drinkers?

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11184883 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (18) ◽

pp. 4883 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Rebecca Boehm ◽

Hannah Kitchel ◽

Selena Ahmed ◽

Anaya Hall ◽

Colin M. Orians ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Risk Perception ◽

Choice Experiment ◽

Lower Income ◽

Purchasing Behavior ◽

Ghg Mitigation ◽

Emissions Mitigation ◽

Food And Beverage ◽

Agricultural Emissions ◽

Locally Grown

Consumers are increasingly concerned about the environmental and social impacts of their purchases. Prior research has assessed willingness to pay (WTP) for environmental and ethical attributes on foods and beverages such as locally grown, fairly traded, and organically produced. However, few studies have examined WTP for agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, especially in the U.S. and to date, no prior study has examined how knowledge or concerns about climate change motivate WTP for climate-friendly products. The objective of this study was to estimate WTP for agricultural GHG mitigation and examine variability in WTP across consumer characteristics, climate change knowledge and risk perception. A sensory-grounded choice experiment and survey assessing climate change knowledge and risk perception was administrated to specialty food and beverage shoppers in the Midwest and Northeastern U.S. Male and lower-income participants, as well as those at the Midwestern study site were willing to pay a higher premium for agricultural GHG mitigation, relative to females, higher income participants, and those in the Northeastern U.S. Knowledge of climate change and level of concerns for the risks it poses were not significantly associated with increased WTP for agricultural GHG mitigation. This suggests that if consumer demand is going to play a role in driving agricultural GHG mitigation, motivations for such purchasing behavior must be more fully understood.

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