Li, Tongzhe

May, 2020

By: Li, Tongzhe; Ahsanuzzaman; Messer, Kent
This experimental research studies consumer preferences for local food accompanied by various label definitions. 374 adult participants made purchase decisions for local oysters characterized by multiple definitions of the term local. Results show consumers are less willing to pay for local oysters when local is defined as harvested within 400 miles than they are for oysters harvested within 100 miles or 25 miles. Willingness to pay (WTP) also increases when local is defined as being harvested in a watershed from the same state of the purchase location rather than in an adjacent state. Interestingly, the highest WTP is when no definition of local is provided.

May, 2019

By: Li, Tongzhe; Messer, Kent D.
We conducted a field experiment involving the purchase of oysters to offer market-based evidence on whether consumers will scan quick response (QR) codes on food packages, a new labeling technology proposed by the SmartLabelTM initiative. In an artefactual marketplace selling oysters, only 1.2% participants scanned the QR code labels with their own devices. However, providing free access to a QR-scanning smartphone induced 52.6% of participants to access labeling information—a large improvement even compared to when this information was provided directly on the package. Furthermore, consumers’ responses to the additional information were similar regardless of how the information was delivered.