Abstract:
This study aimed to investigate the relationship between willingness to pay for the quality of agricultural products toward logos of consumers in different regions of Thailand and explained an opportunity for organic products in future markets. 408 respondents from February - June 2019 were collected based on paper-based questionnaires that focused on consumers' choices, recognition, and attitudes regarding safety and organic knowledge. Three hypotheses were in this study. A choice experiment logit model was used. The questions included socioeconomic, attitudes, preferences, perception of safety and organic products related to the logo. The study showed respondents who understood the concept of safety and organic agriculture and had information about logo standards tended to purchase organic products. The organic logo has impacted the purchasing power of respondents. Consumers were willing to pay more for third-party certified logo products (Organic Thailand and IFOAM) rather than a local logo (PGS). Satisfaction with marketing, quality standard, and price did not increase consumers' demand while they pay for a higher price based on their interest and understanding. Consumers were willing to trade-off between a trusted logo and a higher price. The supported knowledge on production and markets from the public and private agency were beneficial along the supply and demand chain and agricultural society. To enlarge the organic product markets in the future, there are no well-researched factors that impact third-party and local logos. There were several studies about the perception levels, interest, understanding, and knowledge of the respondents' impact on purchasing power of organic products in Thailand.
Keywords:
Willingness to pay
,
Logo
,
Organic products
,
Consumers choices
,
Purchasing power