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Labeling and framing effects in the willingness to purchase upcycled food

University of British Columbia. Food Services; University of British Columbia. Campus and Community Planning

This study explored how labeling and framing affect people’s willingness to pay (WTP) for upcycled food, hypothesizing that labeling upcycled food as recoverable food as opposed to food scraps will increase WTP, and that framing the economic benefits as opposed to the societal benefits of upcycled food will reduce WTP differences between these labels. Participants recruited from the UBC community (N=128) were randomly assigned to read 1 of 4 versions of an article about upcycled food products that varied in terminology (describing ingredients as ‘food scraps’ or ‘recoverable food’) and framing (emphasizing economic or societal benefits). Participants then rated their willingness to accept purchasing and consuming 5 UBC food product images presented as being upcycled, along with their WTP for each. Results found that the ‘food scraps’ label did not create significantly more negative product perceptions nor significantly reduce related WTP compared to the ‘recoverable food’ label. A similar lack of significant positive findings was found for framing emphasizing economic benefits on all these measures compared to societal benefits, alongside no significant effect interaction between labeling and framing. This suggests that labeling and framing are not important factors in encouraging people to purchase and consume upcycled food products. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

Report

eng

2023-09-07

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/85857

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/