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Risk Perceptions and Food Choice: An Exploratory Analysis of Organic‐ Versus Conventional‐Produce Buyers
Author(s) -
Hammitt James K.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
risk analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1539-6924
pISSN - 0272-4332
DOI - 10.1111/j.1539-6924.1990.tb00519.x
Subject(s) - risk perception , willingness to pay , business , hazardous waste , environmental health , food safety , marketing , perception , agricultural science , psychology , economics , medicine , environmental science , waste management , engineering , pathology , neuroscience , microeconomics
Consumer choice between organically (without pesticides) and conventionally grown produce is examined. Exploratory focus‐group discussions and questionnaires ( N = 43) suggest that individuals who purchase organically grown produce believe it is substantially less hazardous than the conventional alternative and are willing to pay significant premiums to obtain it (a median 50% above the cost of conventional produce). The value of risk reduction implied by this incremental willingness to pay is not high relative to estimates for other risks, since the perceived risk reduction is relatively large. Organic‐produce consumers also appear more likely than conventional‐produce consumers to mitigate other ingestion‐related risks (e.g., contaminated drinking water) but less likely to use automobile seatbelts.