Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Coffee: A Case of Thai Consumers

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the willingness to pay (WTP) for sustainable coffee, and its determinants as well. Drawing an empirical survey with 500 consumers in Thailand, contingent valuation method was performed to elicit the WTP for sustainable coffee. A logistic model was adapted to evaluate the impacts of factors under Fishbein and Ajzen’s theory of reasoned action, that is, to test hypotheses of attitude and subjective norm, along with consumer characteristics on the WTP. Stata15 was adopted to analyze the cross-sectional data in logistic models; meanwhile probit regression was performed to confirm the results of the logistic model. The results indicate that attitude, self-brewing, marital status, past experience, job, and household income influence WTP. The WTP or premium price of sustainable coffee as compared to the conventional coffee is found to be 36.48%. Various stakeholders in coffee industry, for example, distributors, roasters, retailers and coffee farmers, as well as the policy makers, can act accordingly based upon the findings to develop a sustainable value-added coffee supply chain.