Abstract
Legumes are valued in agricultural systems, as they can contribute to a more sustainable land use. However, their economic value is low. Despite health and environmental benefits, marketers struggle to communicate the worth of legumes to consumers. We evaluate the worth of health and, in particular, environmental claims that would spread consumers’ awareness of ecological advantages. Utilizing a large consumer sample, we execute binding online auctions. Comparing claim-treated and untreated subjects (between design), we model the price premium that potential customers are willing to pay (WTP) for having pasta in a legume instead of a wheat version. We find that claims may increase the WTP, however, a mix of environmental and health claims is superior to individual claims. Effect sizes suggest that the mix of claims increases the WTP by roughly 35% (20 cents). The link of WTP and food attitudes, such as concern for health in eating habits or social reservations towards legumes, varies depending on whether the green-pea or chickpea pasta was evaluated. A critical perception of legumes’ association with flatulence reduces the WTP. Developing the online auction may enable researchers to increase the external validity of consumer samples. We discuss implications for researchers and marketers.
Highlights
Legumes summarise a family of plants, e.g., peas, beans, lupines, and more, that have all struggled to be marketed for human consumption
About 35% (N = 356) and 37% (N = 375) are still not willing to place a bid on green pea pasta (PP) or chickpea pasta (CP) (Appendix A Figure A2)
The willingness to pay for PP (WTPPP) and for CP (WTPCP) are correlated substantially (r = 0.77)
Summary
Legumes summarise a family of plants, e.g., peas, beans, lupines, and more, that have all struggled to be marketed for human consumption. Some researchers have highlighted the lack of publicity and the lack of modern marketing campaigns surrounding these commodities [5,6] Such marketing efforts could address health and ecological advantages, which are important selling points of legumes [5], and have sustained the agricultural interest. New products may be able to create new and positive perceptions with consumers Such product communication may reduce the environmental impact of food consumption by influencing purchase behaviour [12] in favour of legumes. The effect a claim has on consumers will vary by individual characteristics or food attitudes, such as social norms [18], consumers’ price sensitivity [19], the motivation to act on health information [13], and probably many more. Sustainability 2017, 9, 1340 the results, we discuss health and environmental claims and the specific features of our online auction; a singularity of this study
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