Using a Modified Payment Card Survey to Measure Chinese Consumers' Willingness to Pay for Fair Trade Coffee: Considering Starting Points

Coffee consumption in China has increased rapidly in recent years. This study offers one of the few existing attempts to understand Chinese consumers' coffee consumption behavior with a special focus on the viability of fair trade coffee in the Chinese market. A modified payment card approach was adopted to elicit consumer willingness to pay (WTP). Survey results suggest a positive attitude toward coffee and WTP for fair trade coffee. This study also explores the potential impact of starting point bias, which has been relatively well documented in the dichotomous choice literature, but less thoroughly in a payment card context.