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Differences in consumer preferences when facing branded versus non‐branded choices
Author(s) -
Ubilava David,
Foster Kenneth A.,
Lusk Jayson L.,
Nilsson Tomas
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of consumer behaviour
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.811
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1479-1838
pISSN - 1472-0817
DOI - 10.1002/cb.349
Subject(s) - credence , reputation , business , advertising , certification , consistency (knowledge bases) , product (mathematics) , marketing , credence good , quality (philosophy) , willingness to pay , economics , information asymmetry , microeconomics , geometry , mathematics , social science , philosophy , statistics , management , finance , epistemology , sociology
Because brands can signal reputation and serve as proxies for trust, consumer preferences for credence attributes may differ for branded and non‐branded products. We test this hypothesis using data from a choice experiment conducted with US pork consumers. The results indicate that consumers are usually willing to pay more for a certification attribute in a non‐branded as compared to branded product. Additionally, greater variation in consumer willingness‐to‐pay for credence attributes is observed in the non‐branded case. This latter characteristic of the results may represent the increased uncertainty some consumers internalize concerning quality consistency when brand information is not provided. These results have interesting implications for producers, processors, retailers, and policy makers. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.