Dernison, Jelle Thijs (2023) A Tale of Two Cookies: The Effect of Vegan Labeling on Willingness to Pay. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Unexpected-vegan products are products which happen to be vegan by default, but are not in concordance with consumers’ prior beliefs or expectations. Disconfirming prior beliefs, by labeling unexpected-vegan products (e.g., chocolate chip cookies) as vegan, may lead to perceptual biases attributable to the halo effect evoked by the vegan label. This experimental study examines whether vegan labeling affects the willingness to pay through monthly income. It was expected that, compared to consumers having a grocery budget below average, consumers having an (above) average grocery budget are willing to pay more for an unexpected-vegan product containing a vegan label, opposed to an unexpected-vegan product without a vegan label. To test the hypotheses, an online survey was distributed by means of a convenience sample (N=219). Accordingly, no relationship was found between labeling, monthly income and willingness to pay. However, chocolate chip cookies containing a vegan label were perceived as more environmentally friendly and more sustainable, but not as healthier or less tasty. While the vegan label can be a useful tool for consumers, as it signifies that products are free from animal-derived ingredients, it does not communicate anything about the true environmentally friendliness or sustainability. Therefore, adding a vegan label to an unexpected-vegan product cannot be fully recommended, as the vegan label could be misused to make products appear more environmentally friendly or sustainable than they actually are. Future studies are recommended to include more unexpected-vegan products in their experimental setup to replicate the current findings and establish more generalizable results.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Heesink, J.A.M. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 15 Feb 2023 13:43 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Feb 2023 13:43 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/1687 |
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