To purchase or not to purchase? Drivers of consumers’ preferences for animal welfare in their meat choice

Abstract

This study investigates the relevance of psychological constructs in determining consumer intention to buy and Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) for a processed meat product, cured ham, differentiated by the attributes of animal welfare, ham variety, and price. Data obtained from an online survey conducted in Germany was used to estimate an integrated choice and latent variable (ICLV) model, which is based on an extension of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) framework. There are two consumer segments that are identified: one that is highly price sensitive in its product choice and one that gives roughly equal weight to the animal welfare, ham variety, and price attributes. The ICLV model shows consistency across the two groups regarding the importance of psychological constructs—moral norms, attitude, and perceived behavioral control—in explaining respondent intentions to buy cured ham and their stated product choice. Subjective norms, however, are only a significant determinant of consumer intention to buy cured ham for the price sensitive consumer group.