The Happiness Premium: The Impact of Emotion on Individuals’ Willingness to Pay in Online Auctions

AbstractMillennials, the demographic cohort born in the last two decades of the twentieth century, are reported to adopt information and communication technologies (ICTs) in their everyday lives, including travel, to a greater extent than older generations. As ICT-driven travel-based multitasking influences travelers’ experience and satisfaction in various ways, millennials are expected to be affected at a greater scale. Still, to our knowledge, no previous studies have specifically focused on the impact of travel multitasking on travel behavior and the value of travel time (VOTT) of young adults. To address this gap, we use an original dataset collected among Northern California commuters (N = 2216) to analyze the magnitude and significance of individual and household-level factors affecting commute mode choice. We estimate a revealed-preference mode choice model and investigate the differences between millennials and older adults in the sample. Additionally, we conduct a sensitivity analysis to explore how incorporation of explanatory factors such as attitudes and propensity to multitask while traveling in mode choice models affects coefficient estimates, VOTT, and willingness to pay to use a laptop on the commute. Compared to non-millennials, the mode choice of millennials is found to be less affected by socio-economic characteristics and more strongly influenced by the activities performed while traveling. Young adults are found to have lower VOTT than older adults for both in-vehicle (15.0% less) and out-of-vehicle travel time (15.7% less), and higher willingness to pay (in time or money) to use a laptop, even after controlling for demographic traits, personal attitudes, and the propensity to multitask. This study contributes to better understanding the commuting behavior of millennials, and the factors affecting it, a topic of interest to transportation researchers, planners, and practitioners.

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The Impact of Environmental Sustainability Labels on Willingness-to-Pay for Foods: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Discrete Choice Experiments

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu13082677 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 2677

Author(s):

Anastasios Bastounis ◽

John Buckell ◽

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce ◽

Brian Cook ◽

Sarah King ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Willingness To Pay ◽

Discrete Choice ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Purchasing Power Parity ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Choice Experiments ◽

Discrete Choice Experiments ◽

Environmental Damage ◽

Environmentally Sustainable ◽

The Impact

Food production is a major contributor to environmental damage. More environmentally sustainable foods could incur higher costs for consumers. In this review, we explore whether consumers are willing to pay (WTP) more for foods with environmental sustainability labels (‘ecolabels’). Six electronic databases were searched for experiments on consumers’ willingness to pay for ecolabelled food. Monetary values were converted to Purchasing Power Parity dollars and adjusted for country-specific inflation. Studies were meta-analysed and effect sizes with confidence intervals were calculated for the whole sample and for pre-specified subgroups defined as meat-dairy, seafood, and fruits-vegetables-nuts. Meta-regressions tested the role of label attributes and demographic characteristics on participants’ WTP. Forty-three discrete choice experiments (DCEs) with 41,777 participants were eligible for inclusion. Thirty-five DCEs (n = 35,725) had usable data for the meta-analysis. Participants were willing to pay a premium of 3.79 PPP$/kg (95%CI 2.7, 4.89, p ≤ 0.001) for ecolabelled foods. WTP was higher for organic labels compared to other labels. Women and people with lower levels of education expressed higher WTP. Ecolabels may increase consumers’ willingness to pay more for environmentally sustainable products and could be part of a strategy to encourage a transition to more sustainable diets.

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Water Quality Violations and Avoidance Behavior: Evidence from Bottled Water Consumption

The American Economic Review ◽

10.1257/aer.101.3.448 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 101 (3) ◽

pp. 448-453 ◽

Cited By ~ 62

Author(s):

Joshua Graff Zivin ◽

Matthew Neidell ◽

Wolfram Schlenker

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Drinking Water ◽

Willingness To Pay ◽

Water Consumption ◽

Avoidance Behavior ◽

Bottled Water ◽

Poor Water Quality ◽

Using Data ◽

The Impact

We examine the impact of poor water quality on avoidance behavior by estimating the change in bottled water purchases in response to drinking water violations. Using data from a national grocery chain matched with water quality violations, we find an increase in bottled water sales of 22 percent from violations due to microorganisms and 17 percent from violations due to elements and chemicals. Back-of-the envelope calculations yield costs of avoidance behavior at roughly $60 million for all nationwide violations in 2005, which likely reflects a significant understatement of the total willingness to pay to eliminate violations.

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The impact of hedonic dining experiences on word of mouth, switching intentions and willingness to pay

British Food Journal ◽

10.1108/bfj-10-2020-0901 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Anupama Sukhu ◽

Anil Bilgihan

Keyword(s):

Willingness To Pay ◽

Word Of Mouth ◽

Internal Validity ◽

Service Encounters ◽

Student Sample ◽

Content Type ◽

Hedonic Value ◽

Restaurant Managers ◽

Positive Word Of Mouth ◽

The Impact

PurposeWhen customers decide to dine out, they choose a restaurant for both physiological and psychological reasons. The psychological reasons include the hedonic/enjoyment goal of the consumer. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether dining experiences that provide a positive or negative hedonic value will influence positive word of mouth (PWOM), switching intentions (SI) and willingness to pay (WTP).Design/methodology/approachTwo survey-based experiments using student (N = 112) and general restaurant consumer samples (N = 270) were conducted to test the proposed theoretical model. The student sample provided internal validity, whereas the general consumer sample provided external validity for the study. Two types of manipulations were used to manipulate positive and negative restaurant service encounters. The second study randomly assigned participants into positive or negative scenarios.FindingsThe results suggest that positive (negative) service encounters lead to higher (lower) hedonic value. Higher hedonic value leads to PWOM, WTP and reduced SI. The findings of this study would assist restaurant managers and service scholars by bridging the gap between experiential and relationship marketing.Originality/valueThe current research investigates the dining out experience with a holistic lens.

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Willingness to Pay for Improved Household Solid Waste Collection in Blantyre, Malawi

Economies ◽

10.3390/economies6040054 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 54 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hanke Ndau ◽

Elizabeth Tilley

Keyword(s):

Waste Management ◽

Willingness To Pay ◽

Solid Waste ◽

Solid Waste Management ◽

Pilot Scale ◽

Environmental Perceptions ◽

Waste Collection ◽

Solid Waste Collection ◽

The Impact ◽

Minute Walk

Insufficient staff, inappropriate collection vehicles, limited operating budgets and growing, hard to reach populations mean that solid waste management remains limited in most developing countries; Malawi is no exception. We estimated the willingness to pay (WTP) for two hypothetical solid waste collection services. Additionally, we tested the impact of the WTP question positioning relative to environmental perceptions on respondents’ WTP. The first scenario involved a five minute walk to a disposal facility; the second scenario involved a 30 min walk. Additionally, the order of the question was randomized within the questionnaire. A WTP value of K1780 was found for the five minute walk scenario when the question was placed first, and K2138 when placed after revealing the respondent’s perceptions on the environment. In the 30 min walk scenario, WTP was K945 when placed first and K1139 when placed after revealing the respondent’s perceptions on the environment. The estimated values indicate that there is both a willingness to pay for solid waste services and that there are at least two options that would be acceptable to the community; a pilot scale implementation would be required to validate the hypothetical values, especially given the dependency on problem framing. Community financing should be considered as a sustainable approach to solid waste management in underserved areas.

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The Importance of Skin Disease as Assessed by “Willingness-To-Pay”

Journal of Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery ◽

10.1177/120347540300700501 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 7 (5) ◽

pp. 369-371 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Lauren Parks ◽

Rajesh Balkrishnan ◽

Line Hamel-Gariépy ◽

Steven R. Feldman

Keyword(s):

Willingness To Pay ◽

Skin Disease ◽

Skin Diseases ◽

Medical Conditions ◽

Monthly Basis ◽

Related Quality ◽

Health Related ◽

Optimal Resource ◽

The Impact

Background: To achieve optimal resource allocation in health care, it is necessary to value competing resource uses according to the benefit derived from those uses. Skin disease makes as great an impact as other serious medical conditions when assessed by effects on health-related quality of life. Objective: To confirm the high impact of skin disease by comparing patients' willingness to pay (WTP) to be cured or relieved from symptoms of skin and nonskin conditions. Methods: We searched the published literature on WTP to compare the impact of dermatologic conditions with the impact of other medical conditions. A total of 46 articles were identified of which 10 included information on willingness to pay for cure reported on a monthly basis. Results: WTP for skin diseases fell in the range of $125–260/month and was comparable or higher than all but one of the other identified conditions. Conclusion: Willingness to pay for relief from skin diseases is comparable to that for relief of other serious medical conditions. Skin diseases are associated with a significant adverse impact on patients' lives.

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