소비자지식의 효과를 고려한 윤리적 제품의 프리미엄 지불의사 및 지불비용 분석-공정무역커피를 대상으로

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the consumer responses such as willingness to pay premium and purchasing cost for fair trade coffee as an ethical product while considering the treatment effect of consumer knowledge. First, the levels of consumer knowledge, willingness to pay premium and purchasing cost were presented. Then, the influencing factors on willingness to pay premium and purchasing cost of fair trade coffee were analyzed by applying the treatment effect model. From the results, first, the level of willingness to pay premium was high and consumers having purchasing experience of fair trade coffee spent 9,923 won at once, while less than half of the consumers knew the fair trade coffee. Second, consumer knowledge, ethical judgement, perception of price value, education level and pocket money significantly influenced to willingness to pay premium, while consumer knowledge, information evaluation, importance of fair trade criteria and level of education significantly influenced to purchasing cost for fair trade coffee. Especially, consumer knowledge of fair trade coffee was an important influencing factor for willingness to pay premium and purchasing cost indirectly as well as directly. Thus, this study might provide some useful information for consumers to choose the ethical behavior and the related companies to create effective promoting strategies for ethical products.