Abstract
There is limited understanding of the influence of multiple characteristics of food vending on students’ preferences for vended food. This study assessed students’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for various characteristics of food vending service. A Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) was administered to 585 students of the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies, Ghana. The respondents were selected through multi-stage sampling. Data was collected using a structured experimental survey questionnaire. Six attributes (and attribute levels) were identified from a qualitative study and used to design the DCE: Food taste (natural vs. spicy), environmental sanitation (good vs. poor), vendor’s personal hygiene (good vs. poor), customer relations (good vs. poor), vendors’ location (far from vs. near to students) and price ((1US$=GH¢4.5) per plate (GH¢3, 6, 9 and 12). Nested logit modelling of the data showed that the highest preference and marginal WTP values were associated with good environmental sanitation, good personal hygiene, natural taste of food, good customer relation, and proximity of vendor, in that order. The study concludes that health consciousness is a major factor that attracts students to vended food. Food vendors should, therefore, improve upon the sanitation of their environments and their personal hygiene to attract and retain customers. Keywords: Food Vending Characteristics, Student Preferences, Willingness to Pay, Discrete Choice Experiment, Nested Logit Model
Highlights
Increased urbanization has resulted in an increasingly high proportion of urban food consumers, including students, depending on food vending services to meet their daily nutritional requirements (Food and Agriculture Organisation [FAO], 2007; Muinde & Kuria, 2005; Rahman, Arif, Bakar & Tambi 2016; Tabassum & Rahman, 2012)
The results showed that other things being equal, students were willing to pay the highest price of GH¢12.22 for a plate of food served at a vending environment with good sanitation; GH¢9.58 for a plate of meal if the vendor practices good personal hygiene; GH¢6.41 if the food tastes natural; GH¢4.70 if the vendor has good customer relations and a lowest price of GH¢1.9 for a plate of food if the vendor is located nearer to the student
The Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) revealed relatively higher marginal willingness to pay values for those food vending characteristics that directly affect the health of consumers
Summary
Increased urbanization has resulted in an increasingly high proportion of urban food consumers, including students, depending on food vending services to meet their daily nutritional requirements (Food and Agriculture Organisation [FAO], 2007; Muinde & Kuria, 2005; Rahman, Arif, Bakar & Tambi 2016; Tabassum & Rahman, 2012). In Africa, food vending services are springing up rapidly (Esiawonam, 2010; Johnson & Yawson, 2000; Marras & Ag Bendech, 2016; Nicolò & Ag Bendech, 2012), especially around campuses of tertiary institutions (Adam, Hiamey, & Afenyo, 2014; Opare‐Obisaw, 1998). Due to time constraints, difficulties in preparing their own food and easy accessibility of a variety of nutritious food from vendors at a relatively low cost, many tertiary students are prone to the patronage of the services of food vendors (Johnson & Yawson, 2000; Opare‐Obisaw, 1998; Tabassum & Rahman, 2012). To be able to attract, satisfy and retain the student patrons, food vendors must understand and incorporate their preferences for food vending services in preparing and serving food (Rheinländer, Olsen, Abubakar, Takyi, Konradsen & Samuelsen, 2008)
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