TY - JOUR

T1 - The impact of biodiversity information on willingness to pay

AU - Hörisch, Jacob

AU - Petersen, Lars

AU - Jacobs, Kathleen

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Industrial Ecology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society for Industrial Ecology.

PY - 2024/10/8

Y1 - 2024/10/8

N2 - Biodiversity loss is one of the planetary boundaries that is most urgently in need of action. However, very little is known about the consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for products with higher (or lower) levels of biodiversity performance. Therefore, this research was conducted to investigate how consumers’ WTP is influenced by a product's impact on biodiversity. To address this question, we collected representative data from 524 German consumers in a survey-based experiment. Drawing on prospect theory, we identified the shape of the WTP reaction function for a given product in relation to its biodiversity performance. We demonstrate that consumers with sufficiently high levels of education and concern about biodiversity loss are willing to pay more for products with above-average biodiversity performance and less for products with below-average biodiversity performance. However, the extent to which a product outperforms the industry average does not influence consumers’ increased WTP. From a sustainable development perspective, these observed patterns highlight the problematic contrast between the pressing need for substantial improvements in product biodiversity performance and the limited incentives provided by consumers. Consequently, the findings suggest that the incentives that consumers currently provide for corporate biodiversity management are insufficient to assist in staying within the planetary boundaries.

AB - Biodiversity loss is one of the planetary boundaries that is most urgently in need of action. However, very little is known about the consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for products with higher (or lower) levels of biodiversity performance. Therefore, this research was conducted to investigate how consumers’ WTP is influenced by a product's impact on biodiversity. To address this question, we collected representative data from 524 German consumers in a survey-based experiment. Drawing on prospect theory, we identified the shape of the WTP reaction function for a given product in relation to its biodiversity performance. We demonstrate that consumers with sufficiently high levels of education and concern about biodiversity loss are willing to pay more for products with above-average biodiversity performance and less for products with below-average biodiversity performance. However, the extent to which a product outperforms the industry average does not influence consumers’ increased WTP. From a sustainable development perspective, these observed patterns highlight the problematic contrast between the pressing need for substantial improvements in product biodiversity performance and the limited incentives provided by consumers. Consequently, the findings suggest that the incentives that consumers currently provide for corporate biodiversity management are insufficient to assist in staying within the planetary boundaries.

KW - biodiversity footprint

KW - consumer behavior

KW - industrial ecology

KW - prospect theory

KW - sustainable consumption

KW - willingness to pay (WTP)

KW - Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85205908114&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/jiec.13552

DO - 10.1111/jiec.13552

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85205908114

JO - Journal of Industrial Ecology

JF - Journal of Industrial Ecology

SN - 1088-1980

ER -