Social- and self-image concerns in fair-trade consumption

Social interactions may alter the purchase of fair-trade food products by triggering social- or self-image concerns. We identify these concerns by eliciting the willingness-to-pay (WTP) premium for fair-trade vs. non-fair-trade chocolate of subjects under various conditions. We find that both social- and self-image matter: (i) subjects' WTP premium for fair-trade is higher when their decisions are made public; and (ii) subjects revise this premium upward (downward) when their expectations about the premium of others increase (decrease). However, there are significant asymmetries. Making decisions public decreases the WTP for non-fair-trade chocolate rather than increases the WTP for fair-trade chocolate. Downward revisions of the premium are larger and more frequent than upward revisions.