Consumer willingness to pay for traceable food products: a scoping review

Purpose Traceability is an increasingly important tool for reducing food safety risks and managing supply logistics. Given the costs of implementing and maintaining traceability systems, it is crucial to understand consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for traceable products. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a scoping review to collate the existing literature on consumer WTP for traceability in food products to determine the nature of the evidence base and to identify research gaps. Findings A total of 77 articles were included in the review. The number of studies published per year generally increased over the review period, and China and the United States were the most common countries in which studies were conducted (43.6 and 14.1% of total studies, respectively). All but one of the studies investigated at least one factor that might influence consumer WTP for traceability, the most common of which was socio-demographic characteristics (72.7%). Three-quarters of studies used hypothetical methods to elicit WTP values (75.3%), whereas one-quarter used non-hypothetical methods (24.7%). Most studies included some measure of preference heterogeneity (83.1%). Research limitations/implications There is some potential for systematic bias in the evidence due to the predominance of studies from only a few countries and the possible presence of hypothetical bias. These potential biases could be corrected through future research. Originality/value To the authors' knowledge, no previous study systematically and comprehensively identifies and summarizes the evidence base on consumer WTP for traceable food products.