“Look at Me, I’m Buying Organic”: The Effects of Social Pressure on Organic Food Purchases
By: Kim, Seon-Woong; Lusk, Jayson L.; Brorsen, B. Wade
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Citation
Kim, Seon-Woong; Lusk, Jayson L.; Brorsen, B. Wade, “Look at Me, I’m Buying Organic”: The Effects of Social Pressure on Organic Food Purchases, Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Volume 43, Issue 3, September 2018, Pages 364-387
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Abstract
We investigate whether consumers purchase organic foods to demonstrate social status to others. Subjects were asked to choose among organic and nonorganic milk and apples in a control group and treatments in which: i) an image of another person’s eyes was displayed, ii) responses appeared to not be anonymous, or iii) a vignette placed the choice in the presence of an acquaintance. The vignette treatment increased the willingness-to-pay (WTP) premium for organic by about 90%. The other treatments did not have significant overall effects. When exposed to another person’s eyes, more educated respondents increased their WTP for organic.