Motivation, preference, and willingness of Chinese consumers to purchase carbon-labeled eggs

Abstract

Promoting carbon labels for agricultural products has crucial practical value in reducing carbon emissions. Based on the binary logit model, this paper studied the different motivations of consumers in eastern, central, and western China to purchase carbon-labeled eggs. Based on the choice experiment method and mixed logit model, this paper investigates the preferences and willingness of consumers in different regions to pay for different attributes of carbon-labeled eggs. The results show that the motives driving consumers in different regions to buy carbon-labeled eggs vary but are mainly taking a wait-and-see approach. Consumers in the eastern, central, and western regions all strongly prefer low-carbon labeled eggs. In contrast, consumers in the western region have no significant positive preference for medium-carbon labels. The combination of low-carbon labels and free-range labels has a complementary effect on consumer groups in the eastern, central, and western regions. Low-carbon labels and organic certification labels have a substitutive effect on consumer groups in the eastern region. Medium-carbon labels, organic certification labels, low-carbon labels, and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) -enriched egg labels have a complementary effect on consumer groups in eastern and central regions. In contrast, medium-carbon labels and DHA-enriched egg labels have a substitutive effect. The willingness to purchase carbon-labeled eggs is lower for older consumers in the eastern region and families with a heavier burden of elderly care and children in the central region.