Author Identifier (ORCID)

Kenneth Kaysan Khayr (Fu Xian) Ho: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8882-7509

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of extreme weather events (e.g., droughts), little is known about factors that would prompt consumer to choose climate-affected (suboptimal) produce over climate-unaffected (“normal”) food, and how much they would pay for it. This study has examined if empathy towards farmers: 1) outweighs the importance of the intrinsic attributes typically affected by extreme weather events (aesthetic look, taste, firmness, and size), and 2) enhances the effectiveness of extrinsic attributes controlled by marketers (price, retail setting, resilience marketing message). Two discrete choice experiments were carried out – one with a sample of Australian students (Study 1, N = 358) and another one with a wider Australian population (Study 2, N = 548). Both studies consistently showed under which conditions intrinsic attributes trumped empathy and which extrinsic attributes, combined with empathy, influenced consumers to choose climate-affected food. This work discusses a number of strategies to promote currently discarded, but still edible, climate-affected produce to reduce food waste and minimise farmers' income loss in times of climate change.

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

5-1-2025

Volume

126

Publication Title

Food Quality and Preference

Publisher

Elsevier

School

School of Business and Law

RAS ID

76619

Funders

University of Western Australia Business School Future Fund Research Grant (68805119)

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Comments

Tarabashkina, L., Rajaguru, R., & Ho, K. K. K. F. X. (2025). What do consumers prioritise when selecting climate-affected produce and what trumps empathy towards farmers?. Food Quality and Preference, 126, 105426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2025.105426

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1016/j.foodqual.2025.105426

Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1016/j.foodqual.2025.105426