Food from waste: The effect of information and attitude towards risk on consumers' willingness to pay

Abstract

Circular economy is presented in the agri-food industry as a new paradigm that could alleviate the food waste alarming problem by reintegrating the industry’s waste into the food chain. However, more needs to be done to better understand how to improve social acceptability of food product made waste. This research first tests the effect of the level of innovation as well as the attitude towards risk of consumers on the willingness to pay for upcycled food products. The study then examines the effect of information and informational framing to better understand the most important factors in consumer evaluation of these products’ prices. Finally, we measure inattention bias in participants' responses to assess the quality of the study data. To achieve these objectives, 1,014 participants were recruited to take part in the study by randomly completing one of three variations of the questionnaire, varying each in the level of innovation: incremental, disruptive and radical innovation. The results show that consumers' willingness to pay for circular food products is lower than their conventional counterparts and that risk-averse individuals are willing to pay less for these products than risk-taking individuals. Furthermore, positive (negative) information on the circular economy can improve (deteriorate) the willingness to pay of risk-averse (risk-taking) individuals. Finally, positive information formulated in an environmental or health context has a greater effect on the willingness to pay for upcycled foods than those centered on the economy.