Consumers' valuation for organic processing technologies using the latent class logit model in willingness-to-pay space

Nowadays, organic consumers are looking beyond the “organic” attribute itself by searching organic food products with better taste, higher in nutrients and more convenient. Thus, new organic processing technologies (OPTs) are becoming increasingly important because they might be able to meet this more complex consumer demand. This paper investigates consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for organic dried strawberries produced using different OPTs, namely the conventional air-drying (AD) and the most innovative microwave drying (MD) which are able to retain different levels of natural nutrients. We address three main goals: (i) to investigate consumers’ WTP for organic dried strawberries produced using different OPTs; (ii) to identify consumer segments based on their WTP; (iii) to investigate individual differences using the Latent Class Logit (LCL) combined with different multivariate analysis technics. Data from 204 consumers were collected in Norway through a hypothetical choice experiment, using an efficient choice-design with hypothetical products varying in four conjoint factors: origin, price, technology and nutrients content. Choice data were analyzed with LCL model to identify consumer segments based on the posterior class membership and WTP space. Then, consumer segments where characterized using Partial Least Squares – Discrimination Analysis (PLS-DA), combined with Multinomial Logit (MNL) model. The results suggest that on average consumers have strong preferences for products with Norwegian origin and processed with AD. Five consumer segments were identified based on conjoint factors. The larger segment consists of consumers who have strong preferences for products with Norwegian origin while second larger segment captures consumers who are most likely buyers of berry products and also have very strong preferences for AD. This study provides useful information to organic practitioners about consumers’ WTP towards OPTs as well as illustrates the use of LCL combined with multivariate analysis technics to investigate individual differences. Finally, future research avenues are discussed.