Consumer Preference for Production-Derived Quality: Analyzing Perceptions of Premium Chicken Production Methods

The authors assess consumer interest in a food product containing production-derived attributes. They use the French Label Rouge system in the Ontario chicken market as an example of a producer-controlled quality system. Conjoint analysis reveals a significant proportion of respondents value nonprice attributes; medication and housing had the highest importance scores, followed by price and brand ownership. Cluster analysis of the part-worth utilities revealed three consumer segments: price conscious consumers-consumers focused on naturalness; and those focused on animal health. Segments do not appear to differ on the basis of socioeconomic and demographic profile of respondents. However, multiitem scales reflecting attitudes towards production systems vary significantly across segments. Price-conscious respondents show agreement with use of medication and express concern over quality. Respondents in the naturalness segment express concern over quality, locality of production and impact of production methods on own health. Animal-health-conscious respondents show agreement with the use of medications, concern over quality, locality and impact of production methods on own health, but neutrality towards byproducts and traditional production methods. [EconLit citations: D120, Q130]. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.