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The Direct and Indirect Effects of ‘Locally Grown’ on Consumers’ Attitudes towards Agri-Food Products

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Domenico Dentoni ,
Glynn T. Tonsor ,
Roger J. Calantone  and
H. Christopher Peterson
Domenico Dentoni
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan
Glynn T. Tonsor
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan
Roger J. Calantone
Affiliation:
Business and Chair of the Department of Marketing in the Eli Broad Graduate School of Business at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan
H. Christopher Peterson
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics and Director of the MSU Product Center at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan
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Abstract

Recent agricultural economics literature has largely analyzed consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for many credence attributes, including place of origin, organic, locally grown, environment-friendly, fair trade, and animal welfare. In this study, we instead attempt to analyze why consumers value “locally grown,” which is a credence attribute receiving increasing attention in the market. Specifically, we propose a distinction between the direct effect and the indirect effect of “locally grown” on consumers’ attitudes towards agri-food products to explain consumers’ preferences for locally grown products. We collect data from an experiment with university students and analyze the data with a structural equation modeling methodology.

Keywords

credence attributeslocally growninferencesattitudes
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , December 2009 , pp. 384 - 396
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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