Despite the existence of the far-reaching literature on the problem of measuring animal welfare from both a scientific and a philosophical perspective, there are still few studies which aim at tackling its economic aspects. In this thesis, consumers' willingness to pay and heterogeneity of preferences for certified animal-friendly products were estimated by employing contingent valuation and choice modelling methods. However, since farm animal welfare is an emotional topic which can affect consumers purchasing decisions through aspects involving psychological components, it was decided to explore this hypothesis combining the theory of planned behaviour with stated choice methods. To reach this objective a survey was developed with the use of information tc!chnology which allowed us to administer the questionnaire both via web in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK and via telephone only in Italy. Information technology was adopted to satisfy specific research needs to reach the objective of this thesis such as the implementation of a budget approach to estimate willingness to pay, randomization of qUt:stionnaires to discern between omnivores and vegetarians, randomization of bids for eliciting monetary values, etc. Findings show interesting differences between Northern and Southern European countries as regards trust towards stakeholders operating along the animal-friendly food chain and other theoretical psychological constructs. Respondents are on the average willing to pay £7.00 on their weekly expenditure for certified animalfriendly products, and components of planned behaviour play a role both in willingness to pay for certified animal-friendly products and in determining heterogeneity of preferences. Thus it appears that the marriage between psychology and economics can open up new avenues of research not only for willingness to pay and preferences for certified products respecting FAW but also to other food choice contexts.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:485863 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Nocella, Giuseppe |
| Publisher | University of Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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