Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2014, 60(3):133-146 | DOI: 10.17221/20/2013-AGRICECON

Consumer behavior on low-carbon agri-food purchase: a carbon labeling experimental study in ChinaOriginal Paper

Shuai CHUANMIN1, Yang XIAOMIN1, Zhang YUKUN1, Shuai CHUANXI2, Ding PENGHUI1
1 School of Economics and Management, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China
2 School of Economics and Law, Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang, Hubei, China

By adopting the scenario experimental methodology of carbon labelling on agri-food products, coupled with 873 questionnaires collected from six cities in China, we made a statistical analysis of different types of consumers' behaviour on the low-carbon agri-food purchase by using the SPSS software. The results indicate that: (1) there are great differences of the low-carbon purchasing behaviour between different types of consumers: male groups at young and middle-aged, especially those who are highly educated and better paid in economically developed areas, have strong low-carbon product purchasing powers; (2) consumers' low-carbon purchasing behaviour is highly correlated with their preference for low-carbon products; (3) young consumers and some of the high-income consumers have a weak environmental consciousness and; (4) consumer's perception on government policies and the implementing efficiency shows a positive moderating effect on the consumers' low-carbon purchasing behaviour. Finally, we proposed policy recommendations accordingly based on the findings of this study for further facilitating low-carbon consumption in China.

Keywords: carbon labelling, low-carbon awareness, potential consumption power, scenario experiment, SNK test

Published: March 31, 2014  Show citation

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CHUANMIN S, XIAOMIN Y, YUKUN Z, CHUANXI S, PENGHUI D. Consumer behavior on low-carbon agri-food purchase: a carbon labeling experimental study in China. Agric. Econ. - Czech. 2014;60(3):133-146. doi: 10.17221/20/2013-AGRICECON.
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