Food labeling and eco-friendly consumption: Experimental evidence from a Belgian supermarket

Using an incentive-compatible framed field experiment, we investigate whether consumers’ food consumption is more eco-friendly when the information about a product’s environmental impact is more easily accessible. Through an online survey, we identify a food label that is perceived to be the most ea...

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Veröffentlicht in:Ecological economics 2014-12, Vol.108, p.180-190
Hauptverfasser: Vlaeminck, Pieter, Jiang, Ting, Vranken, Liesbet
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Jiang, Ting
Vranken, Liesbet
description Using an incentive-compatible framed field experiment, we investigate whether consumers’ food consumption is more eco-friendly when the information about a product’s environmental impact is more easily accessible. Through an online survey, we identify a food label that is perceived to be the most easily accessible for assessing a product’s eco-friendliness among six alternatives. These alternatives vary on multiple dimensions, including whether a standardized score of the overall environmental impact is added. This new food label is subsequently tested in an experimental food market embedded in a Belgian supermarket. We find that the presence of the new label that was preselected in the online survey leads to more eco-friendly food consumption relative to either the label currently used in the supermarket, or the label that contains the raw information of the environmental impact. In our experimental food market, the use of an easy-to-interpret but comprehensive environmental information label increases the overall eco-friendliness of our subjects’ food consumption by about 5.3% relative to the default label used in current markets. •The impact of environmental information on consumer behavior•We use multi-criteria environmental information labels in a framed field experiment.•Switching behavior towards environmentally friendly food products is observed.•Choice experiment findings are confirmed in an incentive compatible field setting.•Potential for policy makers to enlarge environmentally friendly consumer segment
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source Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals Complete; PAIS Index
subjects Agricultural and food market
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Belgians
Belgium
Biological and medical sciences
Classification
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
Consumer behavior
Consumer behaviour
Consumption
Environmental impact studies
Environmental information provision
Food
Food consumption
Food industries
Food labeling
Framed field experiment
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Labelling
Labels
Markets
Supermarkets
Surveys
title Food labeling and eco-friendly consumption: Experimental evidence from a Belgian supermarket
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