title: Interactive effects of carbon footprint information and its accessibility on value and subjective qualities of food products.
abstract: We aimed to explore the interactive effects of the accessibility of information and the degree of carbon footprint score on consumers' value judgments of food products. Participants (n=151, undergraduate students in Japan) rated their maximum willingness to pay (WTP) for four food products varying in information accessibility (active-search or read-only conditions) and in carbon footprint values (low, middle, high, or non-display) provided. We also assessed further effects of information accessibly and carbon footprint value on other product attributes utilizing the subjective estimation of taste, quality, healthiness, and environmental friendliness. Results of the experiment demonstrated an interactive effect of information accessibility and the degree of carbon emission on consumer valuation of carbon footprint-labeled food. The carbon footprint value had a stronger impact on participants' WTP in the active-search condition than in the read-only condition. Similar to WTP, the results of the subjective ratings for product qualities also exhibited an interactive effect of the two factors on the rating of environmental friendliness for products. These results imply that the perceived environmental friendliness inferable from a carbon footprint label contributes to creating value for a food product.
authors.affiliation: Sensory & Cognitive Food Science Laboratory, National Food Research Institute, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wada
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kamada
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masuda
authors.forename: Masako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Sho-ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tsuzuki
authors.forename: Dongsheng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oka
authors.forename: Ippeita
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D058572:Carbon Footprint; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D030881:Disclosure; D005260:Female; D005515:Food Labeling; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D009753:Nutritive Value; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013649:Taste; D055815:Young Adult