Understanding public willingness to pay more for plant-based meat : examining the role of environmental and health consciousness as precursors to the influence of presumed media influence model

• Main Authors: Koh, Elizabeth Le Qi, Kwan, Vivien Qian Ying, Ong, Li Ying
• Other Authors: Shirley S. Ho
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Social sciences::Communication::Communication theories and models; Social sciences::Communication::Public opinion
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/147187
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Expanding upon the Influence of Presumed Media Influence (IPMI) model, our study investigates how prior beliefs can serve as important precursors to the processes in the model, in order to predict individuals’ willingness to pay more for plant-based meat. We surveyed 1,008 adult Singaporeans and found that attention to benefit messages on plant-based meat in the media was positively associated with presumed others’ attention, which subsequently predicted attitudes and perceived social norms of paying more for plant-based meat. The attitudes and perceived social norms, except for descriptive norms, then predicted willingness to pay more for the food product. Most importantly, we found evidence that prior beliefs – namely environmental and health consciousness – were predictive of attention to media messages on plant-based meat, suggesting selective exposure of media messages based on such prior beliefs. Theoretically, our findings highlight the need to recognize the impact of pre-existing beliefs on the presumed influence model. Practically, actions that key stakeholders can take to enhance willingness to pay more for products are briefly discussed.