5. Discussion and limitations
5.1. Theoretical and practical implications
With the aim of providing economic estimates that rely on actual behavior, in the present study we extended research on consumer preferences for food safety improvements in several ways. First, we adapted a behavioral theoretical base to identify determinants of revealed payments for food safety and hygiene improvements in a field experiment auction. In particular, we accounted for the impact of knowledge, salience, fear of negative social evaluation, trust, and habits on buying behavior for vegetables produced, handled, and sold to have high levels of food safety and hygiene. As the integrative model of behavioral prediction is an extension of the theory of reasoned action, the use of this theoretical base allowed us to take into account the underlying judgment and decision process leading up to an intentional purchasing decision, but also internal and situational factors for participants which may disrupt the intention-behavior relationship. Identification of how individual decision making interacts with the decision environment may add predictive power to understanding the underlying preference for consumers’ actual choice of safer food.
Second, we established a role model for a sales stand to meet high food standards within a traditional peri-urban vegetable market and assured the quality of the produce from the farm through transportation and handling. We provided the consumers with information concerning the measures taken to obtain food safety improvements and we elicited consumers’ revealed payments using their own money to exchange a product typically sold within the market for a product produced using the food safety and hygiene improvements detailed in the information sheet given to participants on recruitment. Hence, the valuation obtained corresponded to the total non-hypothetical benefits accrued from implementing the interventions within the experiment.
Third, the valuation obtained through the field auction shows that the real WTP depends on the risk reduction method provided through the intervention. Improving conditions in local markets of Kenya is a promising solution to the food safety challenge. The experience from this intervention and from our other studies in Kenya suggests that active participation in planning and establishing the sales point by the local sellers who will manage the stand is vital for their engagement and commitment to the business. Motivation to participate in training and to maintain hygienic practices followed from that commitment. The key to the commitment was, in turn, related to the incentives provided from the business side – the seller earned their money by selling their produce, instead of getting paid for just mitigating the health risks. Furthermore, approval and support from the local market steering committee was necessary when establishing the improved sales point and this committee needed to be convinced of the business case. It then had the important role of managing acceptance among other sellers not directly benefiting from the intervention. Future research might focus on how and why different methods for risk reduction contribute to increased market demand. Moreover, the real WTP found in this study was lower than that reported in a recent stated preference study at a similar market outlet, which asked consumers to upgrade to a food safety-enhanced product (Lagerkvist, Hess, Okello, et al., 2013). This confirms that a non-hypothetical auction is less likely to induce people to overstate their actual WTP (List & Gallet, 2001).