Willingness to pay price premium for products of Croatian family farms

Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine whether consumers in Croatia behave ethically, focusing on whether they believe that family farm products have ethical attributes and whether they are willing to pay a higher price (premium) for such products. Given the specificity of the market niche of family farm products, the paper provides an innovative and different view of the product market with a focus on characteristics rather than the good itself. In the paper, family farm products are viewed as goods with ethical attributes, ethics in consumer behavior is examined, as well as the extent to which consumers are willing to pay a price premium for an ethical good, i.e., its ethical attributes. The sample consisted of 143 participants aged between 20 and 71. The results show that consumers in Croatia commonly behave ethically, perceive the characteristics of family farm products as ethical and are willing to pay a price premium for these products. Women perceive family farm products more ethically, and consumers perceive family farm products to have ethical attributes regardless of how frequently they buy these products.