Consumers’ responses to food fraud risks: an economic experiment

Abstract

This artefactual field experiment explores consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) price premiums for fish products to avoid the risk and uncertainty of purchasing inauthentic produce. The influence of subjective probabilistic beliefs, risk and ambiguity preferences is investigated. Participants’ WTP is elicited using experimental auctions, while behavioural factors are elicited using incentivised and incentive-compatible methods: the quadratic scoring rule and multiple price lists. Results show that consumers are willing to pay a premium to avoid food fraud and purchase an authentic fish product. This premium is higher under uncertainty than risk, likely driven by ambiguity preferences which affect consumers’ purchasing under uncertainty.