Consumers’ attitudes and willingness to pay for organic eggs

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand consumer attitudes toward organic eggs by identifying their profiles and estimating the degree of their willingness to pay (WTP) for eggs with different attributes in order to evaluate the position of organic eggs. Design/methodology/approach Empirical data were collected from a face-to-face cross-sectional market survey, which involved a choice experiment design and a series of questions related to respondents’ attitudes and preferences in terms of organic egg consumption. A total of 552 consumers who are responsible for their household purchases were sampled, while the survey was performed in the major cities of seven regions of Turkey. The gathered data from the questions on consumer attitudes and preferences were analyzed using ordered probit, while the choice experiment data were analyzed through the use of conditional logit and mixed logit models. Findings Consumers perceive organic eggs to be healthy, nutritious and delicious food. In the study, we obtained three consumer groups (collectivist consumers, individualist consumers and reluctant consumers) with different characteristics in relation to organic egg consumption. When the motivations for organic egg consumption were analyzed, it was found that individual benefits have a greater impact than collectivist benefits on consumers’ choice to purchase organic eggs. According to the results of the regression analysis, consumers are willing to pay ₺0.76 more per egg for organic eggs compared to conventional eggs. Overall, consumers are reluctant to pay a premium in view of the functionality aspect of eggs. Research limitations/implications The results will help the actors within the egg industry to develop production and market-planning processes for differentiated egg markets according to consumer preferences and in terms of having the opportunity to select their ideal customer segments. Originality/value The research is the first study that analyses the motivations and the willingness of Turkish consumers to purchase organic eggs through using a choice experiment design and regression models. Original findings include the segmentation of consumers according to personal beliefs and norms. The research is also important in terms of comparing two regression model results in methodical terms. The similarity among the obtained results from the regression analysis increased the reliability of the study.