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Recycled wastewater and product choice: does it make a difference if and when you taste it?
Citation
Hatton MacDonald, D and Rose, JM and Lease, H and Cox, DN, Recycled wastewater and product choice: does it make a difference if and when you taste it?, Food Quality and Preference, 48, (Part A) pp. 283-292. ISSN 0950-3293 (2016) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2015 Crown Copyright
DOI: doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2015.10.004
Abstract
With water security issues looming large for much of the world’s population, efficient use of water will
become increasingly important. One solution is recycling wastewater however consumer acceptability is
uncertain with the potential for rejection. People may support wastewater recycling conceptually but
reject products containing recycled water due to the ‘‘yuck" factor. This simple problem presented an
opportunity to compare different experimental approaches emerging from different literatures. This
paper reports on an experiment which utilises meat products purported to be manufactured with or containing
recycled production wastewater to explore choice behaviour. Participants (n = 203 adult consumers
of minced beef products) were randomly assigned into two conditions, a Binding Condition
(told they would be eating four random selections of their next choices) and an Experience Condition
(asked to taste four meatball samples prior to completing their next lot of choices). Statistically significant
preference and scale differences between the pre-and post intervention were observed suggesting
that participants may initially under-estimate their acceptance of a product with a negative attribute
when they believe they are just answering a survey. One explanation of the differences among conditions
is that participants experience a degree of anticipatory dread if told they will be eating their next choices
in a survey compared with just answering a survey or experiencing the product prior to making choices.
Results suggest that any investment in recycling will need to be justified on the basis of avoided waste
charges and/or reductions in input costs as consumers are not willing to pay a premium to conserve
water.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Research Division: | Economics |
| Research Group: | Applied Economics |
| Research Field: | Environment and Resource Economics |
| Objective Division: | Environment |
| Objective Group: | Land and Water Management |
| Objective Field: | Land and Water Management of environments not elsewhere classified |
| Author: | Hatton MacDonald, D (Associate Professor Darla Hatton MacDonald) |
| ID Code: | 106956 |
| Year Published: | 2016 |
| Deposited By: | Tasmanian School of Business and Economics |
| Deposited On: | 2016-02-27 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-11-23 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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