The assessment of consumer sensitivity to animal welfare: An application of Rasch Model

Abstract

The sensitivity has become a mass phenomenon, still in expansion. The European Commission, during last decade, carried out several surveys on food quality and animal welfare. This research, using data from a survey conducted on 320, respondents and applying the Rasch model on 14 selected questions (items), wants to develop a measure that appears representative of a latent variable defined as 'Sensitivity towards Animal Welfare'. The ability to measure the individual level of this 'Sensitivity' therefore represents an interesting and important result, especially if there are correlations between this variable and other variables characterizing the opinions and habits of individuals, both in general and in relation to consumer decisions.Key words: animal welfare, Rasch Model, Rasch-Andrich Thresolds, consumer behavior, consumption, sensitivity. * University of Udine, Department of Economic and Statistic Science, Via F. Tomadini, 33100 Udine, Italy, 0432-249312. E-mail: enrico.gori@uniud.it. * * University of Udine, Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental, and Animal Sciences, Via delle Scienze, 206, 33100 Udine, Italy, 0432-558316. * * * University of Udine, Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental, and Animal Sciences, 206, 33100 Udine, Italy, 0432-558305. * * * * University of Perugia, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Via S. Costanzo, 4, 06126 Perugia, Italy, 075-5857929. * * * * * University of Perugia, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Via S. Costanzo, 4, 06126 Perugia, Italy, 075-5857935. * * * * * * University of Perugia, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Via S. Costanzo, 4, 06126 Perugia, Italy, 075-5857934. * * * * * * * University of Udine, Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental, and Animal Sciences, Via delle Scienze, 206, 33100 Udine, Italy, 0432-558081.Copyright © FrancoAngeli N.B: Copia ad uso personale. È vietata la riproduzione (totale o parziale) dell'opera con qualsiasi mezzo effettuata e la sua messa a disposizione di terzi, sia in forma gratuita sia a pagamento.F r a n c o A n g e l iDOI: 10.3280/RISS2017-001008 108Riassunto La valutazione della sensibilità del consumatore al benessere animale: un'applicazione del modello di Rasch La sensibilità nei confronti degli animali è diventata un fenomeno di massa, in continua espansione. La Commissione europea, nel corso dell'ultimo decennio, ha svolto diverse indagini sulla qualità degli alimenti e sul benessere degli animali. Questa ricerca, utilizzando i dati di un sondaggio condotto su 320 soggetti e applicando il modello di Rasch su 14 domande selezionate, vuole sviluppare una misura che sia rappresentativa di una variabile latente definita come "Sensibilità verso il benessere degli animali". La possibilità di misurare a livello individuale questa "sensibilità" rappresenta quindi un risultato interessante e importante, soprattutto se ci sono correlazioni tra questa variabile e altre variabili che caratterizzano le opinioni e le abitudini degli individui, sia in generale che in relazione alle decisioni dei consuma...

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