Consumers' willingness-to-pay for dairy and plant-based milk alternatives towards sustainable dairy : a scoping review

Abstract

The dairy sector is transforming following growing concerns over sustainability, propelling innovations such as plant-based milk alternatives (PBMAs). Researchers have shown increasing interest in conducting studies on consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for dairy and PBMAs. This scoping review expounds on consumers' WTP for dairy and PBMAs, focusing on attributes to understand the variation across regions, value elicitation methods, driving factors, and impact on sustainable dairy. Researchers searched the literature using Web of Science, Scopus, and AgEcon databases and used descriptive statistics and thematic analysis to synthesize the findings of a scoping review of 123 worldwide studies. The reviewed studies applied stated preference (SP) and revealed preference (RP) methods, but SP methods were dominant, especially discrete choice experiments (DCEs) (42 %) and contingent valuation methods (CVM) (25 %). Consumers were willing to pay an average premium of 44 % for all attributes. Most studies were on cow milk (90 %), whereas very few investigated PBMAs and other milk types. The average WTP for the attribute categories were organic (55 %), animal welfare (53 %), origin (45 %), milk quality and safety (45 %), brand (40 %), environmental (34 %), health-related (25 %), and sensory attributes (22 %). Consumers' WTP for dairy and PBMAs attributes impact the sustainability of the dairy sector across regions. Moreover, income, awareness, and information consciousness influenced consumers' WTP for organic, safety, health, and environmental milk attributes. This study highlights the complexity and diversity of consumers' WTP for dairy and PBMAs across regions. Our findings emphasize the need to employ multilevel strategies ranging from farm-level dairy production to processing and consumption to achieve socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable dairy. Future research should focus on consumers' WTP for PBMAs and gather more evidence on how consumers in Africa and South America value sustainable dairy and PBMAs.