Women consumer preferences for socially responsible food production attributes: evidence from urban supermarket setting in the Anuradhapura district

Abstract

This study assesses the consumer preferences towards "socially responsible production of food" in the context of urban women consumers in Anuradhapura District. The empirical analysis focuses on whether women consumers accept certain "alterations" made to three major food products, including: (1) "Hormone Injected" Chicken; (2) "Pasteurized" Milk, and (3) "Genetically-Modified" Soya Meat, and further, how much they are willing-to-pay for such products as a premium. A series of Dichotomous-Choice Contingency Valuation questions were formulated, which elicits consumer willingness-to-pay for such products, by taking into account of certain motivational factors, including: (a) health; (b) labeling; (c) packaging, and (4) animal welfare. These were included in a structured questionnaire together with other questions to explore consumer motivational and demographic characteristics influencing their choices. The questionnaire was administrated with 500 randomly selected consumers visiting major supermarkets in the Anuradhapura city during May-June 2010. The Stated Preference models characterized by the Principle Component Analysis Technique were employed to assess the relative strengths of consumer preferences and motivation to purchase these products. The outcome of analysis implies that consumer expectations on food firms' "ethical conduct in production", the "level of food quality" and their "anxieties over the food risks" were increased progressively in the recent past and that had an impact on their food purchasing behavior and consumption patterns. The results imply that remaining food firms and potential entrants into the market should consider catering their client-base with socially responsible food products to be competitive in the market.