The effect of intrinsic and extrinsic quality on the willingness to pay for a convenient meal: A combination of home‐use‐test with online auctions

Abstract

A sensory evaluation using a home-use-test (HUT) setting and experimental online auctions at three storage times, were used to elicit willingness to pay (WTP) for two samples of ready meals with extended shelf life, one using microwave assisted pasteurization system (MAPS) and the other using freezing. The effect of the information on the name of a new technology and the environmental impacts associated with each technology was also measured. We found that sensory characteristics of the ready meal are the key drivers for subjects' WTP. Considering the specific context of this study, we did not find evidence that the name of the technology and the information on the environmental impacts associated with each technology impacted participants' WTP. Practical ApplicationsOur study contributes by presenting a protocol for conducting a combined HUT and online auction across three storage times for a complex food matrix (i.e., the jambalaya ready meal) in which the eating environment is important. Also influential is that participants actually ate the meal, therefore the sensory evaluation results that were gathered were more impactful for bids than the extrinsic attributes included. Given the logistic challenges of conducting a HUT along with experimental auctions across time, this study had a limited number of participants. Therefore, we cannot provide a conclusive evidence that disclosing the name of the technology used and its effects on the environment would encourage purchase of ready meals. | INTRODUCTIONThe area of food choice behavior includes psychological, social, economic, as well as sensory studies. The perception of sensory quality attributes is impactful to the WTP but do not fully explain food choice behavior (Jaeger, 2006). In fact, literature on food choice shows that extrinsic factors such as individuals' perceptions and preferences for aspects different from the actual sensory profile of the food have an impact on choice

Sensory Perception and Food-Evoked Emotions of Older Adults Assessing Microwave-Processed Meals with Different Salt Concentrations

“…The following overall topics were included in the questionnaire: eating habits, general health interest (GHI), texture of the food consumed, food technology neophobia (FTN), consumption of RTE meals, and salt consumption habits. The questions were mostly taken from previous studies [32][33][34][35]. Specific questions were used to explore topics such as GHI, FTN, and the inflexibility index (IFI) (see Table 2); answers to these questions were used to determine different indices.…”

“…Food purchase drivers: Q11 Importance of different issues in food purchase [32] 1 (not important) → 5 (very important) Ex: Texture (of food)…”

Consumers Perceptions and Motivations in the Choice of Kiwifruits: A Study-Case in Italy, North-East

“…Indeed, it is important to point out that generally, in the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), is explained how, positively or negatively, the personal feeling towards the subject (e.g., Neophobia) influence the purchase intention as well as influence the Intrinsic perceived Quality of fruits and food products (Kim et al, 2014;Ting et al, 2016). Hence, TPB is an extended theory of TRA in which was added the element of perceived Intrinsic Quality by personal human feelings (Bae et al, 2021) Thus, on the basis of these two theories, the food Neophobia along with the Country Of Imagine and perceived Quality might strongly influence the Behavioural Intention (Garrido et al, 2021;Espejel and Fandos, 2009b), as we hypnotize in this study putting together the two theories.…”