AN ANALYSIS OF WILLINGNESS TO PAY AND REASONS FOR PURCHASING CERTIFIED FOREST PRODUCTS
Abstract
Currently, around half a billion acres are certified around the world by the world’s
top three certification organizations and this number continues to grow rapidly every
day. However, consumer knowledge of sustainable forest management and forest certification
does not appear to be growing. This lack of consumer awareness could be the reason
why there is little evidence of a price premium for certified forest products in the
market. The non-existence of a price premium may discourage landowners from electing
to have their forest certified as sustainably managed. In order to encourage consumers
to pay more for certified forest products, it is necessary to disseminate information
about the benefits of forest certification and how certified forests are managed sustainably.
This study aims to determine how much a typical household consumer knows about forest
certification and whether or not they would prefer certified forest products over
non-certified products. To answer these questions, 100 individuals were surveyed in
Durham, North Carolina during the spring of 2014 to determine their preferences for
printer paper, which is a frequently purchased forest product. The results indicated
that 48% of respondents have not heard of forest certification and only 3% knew a
lot about it. This demonstrates that there are great marketing opportunities for certification
organizations, manufacturers of certified forest products, and certified forest product
carriers (e.g. Home Depot and Staples).
In addition to surveying for knowledge about certification, respondents were given
a hypothetical purchasing scenario where they were asked to either purchase a ream
of certified paper or a ream of non-certified paper. The only things that varied about
these types of paper was 1) the price of certified paper and 2) whether the paper
was certified or not certified. 73 respondents stated that they preferred the certified
paper over the non-certified paper and they would, on average, pay an additional $2.67
for certified paper. Of the respondents who chose the non-certified paper, they indicated
that the reason they selected it was because the certified paper was too expensive
and that they did not know enough about how certified forest management differs from
non-certified forest management.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/8562Citation
Jason, Elliott (2014). AN ANALYSIS OF WILLINGNESS TO PAY AND REASONS FOR PURCHASING CERTIFIED FOREST PRODUCTS.
Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/8562.Collections
More Info
Show full item record
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Rights for Collection: Nicholas School of the Environment
Works are deposited here by their authors, and represent their research and opinions, not that of Duke University. Some materials and descriptions may include offensive content. More info