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Cheese liking and consumer willingness to pay as affected by information about organic production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2010

Fabio Napolitano ,
Ada Braghieri ,
Edi Piasentier ,
Saida Favotto ,
Simona Naspetti  and
Raffaele Zanoli
Fabio Napolitano*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Animali, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Viale dell'Ateneo Lucano 10 – 85100Potenza, Italy
Ada Braghieri
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Animali, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Viale dell'Ateneo Lucano 10 – 85100Potenza, Italy
Edi Piasentier
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze animali, Università degli Studi di Udine, Via S. Mauro 2 – 33010Udine, Italy
Saida Favotto
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze animali, Università degli Studi di Udine, Via S. Mauro 2 – 33010Udine, Italy
Simona Naspetti
Affiliation:
DIIGA, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche – 60131Ancona, Italy
Raffaele Zanoli
Affiliation:
DIIGA, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche – 60131Ancona, Italy
*
*For correspondence; e-mail: fabio.napolitano@unibas.it
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Abstract

The present study aimed to assess the effect of information about organic production on Pecorino cheese liking and consumer willingness to pay. Mean scores of perceived liking were similar for organic cheese (OC) and conventional cheese (CC). Expected liking scores were higher for OC than for CC (P<0·001). For OC the expected liking was significantly higher (P<0·001) than the perceived liking expressed in blind conditions (negative disconfirmation), whereas for CC the expected liking was significantly lower (P<0·001) than the perceived liking expressed in blind conditions (positive disconfirmation). Consumers assimilated their liking for OC in the direction of expectations, as the difference actual vs. perceived liking was significant (P<0·001). However the assimilation was not complete, as also the difference actual liking vs. expected liking was significant (P<0·001). Consumers showed a willingness to pay OC (mean±se=4·20±0·13 €/100 g) higher than the local retail price for conventional (1·90 €/100 g) and even organic cheese (3·00 €/100 g). We conclude that the information about organic farming can be a major determinant of cheese liking and consumer willingness to pay, thus providing a potential tool for product differentiation, particularly for small scale and traditional farms.

Keywords

organic productioncheese likingexpectancyinformationwillingness to pay
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Dairy Research , Volume 77 , Issue 3 , August 2010 , pp. 280 - 286
Copyright
Copyright © Proprietors of Journal of Dairy Research 2010

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