Assessing consumer post-response to a food safety scare in South Africa using behavioural game theory
Date
2021-12
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH SUMMARY : The consumer response to the Listeria outbreak in South Africa (SA) was noticeable and reasonable. However, the post food scare effects are still predicted and it is not certain to what degree the outbreak affected rational decisions of consumers when buying processed meat products, especially the implicated ones. Thus, it is vital to capture and quantify the level of trust that South African consumers have toward processed meat products after the Listeria outbreak.
Since the market is consumer-orientated, this study analysed the consumer behaviour towards the implicated product after the Listeria outbreak through behavioural economics and game theory. The study used 111 subjects with 50 control and 61 treatment participants from the Cape Wineland District in Western Cape Province. The participants consisted of both student and non-student participants, which enabled broad socio-economic characteristics to investigate the factors that influenced consumer behaviour after the outbreak. The experimental game theory chosen for the study is the Vickrey fourth-price auction used to collect willingness to pay (WTP) data. The Vickrey fourth-price auction consisted of three rounds where each participant was requested to bid for 500g viennas online through an oTree online platform after receiving negative and/or positive information about the Listeria outbreak. The winning bidders received food vouchers equivalent to the 500g viennas retail price after the experiment. After the auction, a survey and evaluation were conducted to collect data based on demographic characteristics, shopping habits, knowledge or attitude about food safety, salience, social pressure resulting from the outbreak and the level of trust for the implicated products.
All the data and information that was collected from the auction, survey and evaluation were further analysed using a Tobit regression model, an integrative model of behavioural prediction (IMBP) and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to assess the consumer behaviour after the outbreak. Most participants indicated that they stopped consuming or reduced their consumption of the products implicated during the outbreak. Moreover, the negative information had a more significant impact on consumer behaviour than positive information about the outbreak. Negative information caused a major decrease in the consumption of ready-to-eat (RTE) meat products during and after the outbreak. Lastly, real intention of buying the implicated products, trust and shopping habit had the greatest influence on WTP compared to other variables. Real intention mainly increased the WTP of participants whilst trust either decreased or increased the WTP after the recall. Since the purchasing behaviour of consumers changed after the outbreak, shopping habits had the most negative effect on WTP. Thus, one may conclude that most consumers change their choice of purchase and frequency of buying RTE meat products, especially for implicated products after a food scare.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Geen opsomming beskikbaar.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Geen opsomming beskikbaar.
Description
Thesis (MScAgric)--Stellenbosch University, 2021.
Keywords
Food -- Consumption -- Social aspects -- South Africa, Food -- Consumption -- Economic aspects -- South Africa, Food contamination, Consumer behavior -- South Africa, Food safety -- Psychological aspects, Game theory, Behavioural game theory, UCTD