A new approach to elicit consumers willingness to purchase genetically modified apples

Purpose - The goal of this research was to try a new methodology to elicit consumers' willingness to pay for genetically modified (GM) food. Design/methodology/approach - Even though experimental auctions have been used for several years, they do not provide qualitative information on consumers' reasoning behind their purchase behaviours. To provide further illumination in this regard, a thought-listing technique and a questionnaire were added. Findings - A majority of the consumers involved in this study were ready to pay for the GM food offered. The benefit provided by the GM product did not seem to be the major purchase criterion and sensory assessment appeared to be important. The use of different methodologies on the same sample of participants revealed that there was a gap between purchasing intentions and behaviours, and that a key to efficiently assessing public perception and purchase behaviours is the precision of the context. Research limitations implications - The absence of discrimination between the different benefits offered, might come from the limited size of the samples or from the nature of the benefits offered. Future research should consider larger samples and more diversified products. Practical implications - This study has concrete methodology applications. If one would like to conduct a market study, for instance, on a specific GM product, a general survey on biotechnology will not provide relevant answers. Originality/value - The implementation of experimental auctions with psychometric tools, created an original and suitable protocol for accessing consumers' willingness to pay as well as their justifications.