The impact of environmental certification on preferences for wood furniture: A conjoint analysis approach

The objectives of this exploratory study were to: 1) determine the relative importance of five wood CD rack product attributes; and 2) identify demographic and psychographic variables associated with the respondents who rated environmental certification as the most important attribute in forming their product preferences. To meet these objectives, we surveyed a convenience sample of 265 Oregon State University undergraduate students enrolled in an international business class during the 2001/2002 academic year. The results indicate that respondents viewed environmental certification as a favorable product attribute. However, for the typical respondent, the importance of other product attributes outweighed that of environmental certification. Despite environmental certification's limited importance for the typical respondent, it was the most important attribute for 20.8 percent of the respondents. Backwards-stepwise binary logistic regression was used to identify four variables useful for predicting which respondents would place the highest importance on the attribute environmental certification. A key finding was that willingness to pay more for certified forest products (CFPs) was highest among those who placed the greatest importance on environmental certification. Although our sample was not representative of the general population, these results provide insight about possible marketing implications. First, since environmental certification was a relatively unimportant purchase decision criterion for the average respondent, CFPs marketed in mainstream distribution channels, e.g., big-box retailers, are not likely to realize price premiums. However, since willingness to pay was greatest among those who placed the highest importance on environmental certification, CFP price premiums may be possible through market segmentation.