Influencing what the money is perceived to be worth: Framing and priming in contingent valuation studies

Abstract

In contingent valuation studies willingness to pay (WTP) for a non-use value may be affected by how much the respondents perceive that a money contribution they plan or are asked to make is worth. In Study 1, 66 psychology undergraduates stated how much they were willing to pay for cleaning the lakes in the country. Different groups were told that the suggested contribution was equivalent to the cost of a more or a less valuable service. As expected, the WTP was less in the former than in the latter group. Similar results were obtained in Study 2 for 280 randomly selected residents of a metropolitan area answering a mail-back questionnaire. Half of them who first recalled buying something too expensive indicated a higher WTP than those who first recalled buying something well worth the money.