Understanding consumer preferences for sustainable meat at different stages in the value chain
(A2025-125707)

AUTHORS

Anne Peschel, Aarhus University; George Tsalis, Copenhagen Business School; Marcel Nicolas Grub, Saarland University; KLAUS G. GRUNERT, Aarhus University, MAPP Centre, Department of Management

ABSTRACT

Consumers want to live healthier, more sustainable, and more socially aware – however high price premiums for products that fulfill these aspirations often stand in the way of making the “right” choice. Especially meat consumption has been under scrutiny in recent years due to unfavorable health outcomes, exorbitant carbon emission, outdated animal welfare standards paired with scandals of fraud along the value chain. In this special session, we provide comprehensive insight into consumers’ preferences for higher animal welfare meat products focusing on different stages of the value chain. Applying a diverse portfolio of methods ranging from choice-modelling, field experiments to sensory analysis, our goal is to discuss pathways to closing the gap between conscious intentions and choices. We further want to draw the discussion to a variation in methodology, which highlights consumer behaviour at different stages. The first paper “The role of blockchain technology in communicating sustainable meat products”, co-authored by Peschel, Tsalis, Esbjerg and Grunert investigates the role of blockchain verification as a new technology to enhance credibility of value chain information. Based on a discrete choice experiment with 3000 participants from six European countries, they find that blockchain verification can reduce the importance of price in the decision-making process but relies heavily on consumers’ objective understanding of the technology. In the second paper “A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words – Can Picture-based Information at the Point-of-Sale Communicate both Animal Welfare and the Taste of Meat?” the authors Grub and Gröppel-Klein provide novel insight on in-store communications that enhance preferences for higher animal welfare meat products. Based on a lab (n = 104) and a field experiment in Spain (n = 260), they show that stylized visualizations increase preferences for welfare meat. The final paper “The role of information on consumers’ sensory evaluation of sustainable meat”, by Ahm Mielby and Grunert focuses on consumer preferences in the post-purchase stage during meat consumption. Based on a sensory study with 177 Danish consumers at a state-of-the-art facility, they show the influence of information on taste perceptions and purchase intentions. We will conclude the special session with an interactive discussion with the audience focusing on the role of different methodologies to assess consumer choice behaviour.