Information, Consequentiality and Credibility in Stated Preference Surveys: A Choice Experiment on Climate Adaptation

Abstract

Information provided in valuation surveys has been shown to affect stated preferences, which in turn may matter for the validity and reliability of survey-based value estimates. Although information effects are widely documented in stated preference studies, the reasons underlying the effects are less established. We focus on information about the policy context of the valuation scenario and examine two pathways which may help explain how including such information in a survey affects stated preferences. We hypothesize and empirically analyze whether the information effects on stated preferences can emerge as a result of changed perceptions about (1) the survey consequentiality and (2) the credibility of the valuation scenario upon facing the additional information. Our results confirm that the frequently found information effects can be present in the context of urban green and climate adaptation. The role of the additional information appears to be negligible for consequentiality perceptions. In contrast, the additional information strengthens the perceived credibility, and this may partially explain the information effects on stated preferences. We conclude that stated preference research may benefit from an increased attention to perceived credibility of the valuation scenario.

Willingness to Pay for Environmental Conservation: Subsidy Reduction as a Payment Vehicle

“…Including a payment vehicle as a monetary attribute in the CE design is crucial in valuing nature resources. Choosing the appropriate payment method is crucial for effectiveness and alignment of incentives in stated preference surveys, particularly in developing countries and emerging economies where traditional payment methods from developed countries may not be suitable (Welling et al 2022;Zawojska et al 2019).…”

Effects of Varying the Location of Perceived Consequentiality Elicitation in a Discrete Choice Experiment Survey

“…For example, perceived consequentiality will likely be weakened when a respondent does not find levels of the public good provision considered in the preference elicitation task(s) as credible (e.g., technically impossible for the actual provision; Welling, Zawojska, and Sagebiel, 2022) or is otherwise unconvinced by the way the preferences are elicited.…”

The dilemma of urban green spaces: Improved ecosystem services or smooth traffic?

“…Complementing hedonic studies, several discrete choice experiments (DCE) have found positive WTP to benefit from different types of UGS such as: green walls (Collins et al, 2017;Fruth et al, 2019), green roofs (Vanstockem et al, 2018) and street trees (Giergiczny & Kronenberg, 2014;Ng et al, 2015;Soto et al, 2018;Fruth et al, 2019;Dongen & Timmermans, 2019;Mokas et al, 2021;Welling et al, 2022) or different naturalness (Bronnmann et al, 2020). These studies describe UGS with landscape attributes which include : type of land use (grassy/wooded area, presence of water, etc.…”