When cheap talk is not that cheap – interviewing the super-rich about illegal wildlife consumption

Abstract

Obtaining insights on the illicit consumption of endangered wildlife products is challenging, especially when the study objects are the super-rich. This research note draws upon my experience interviewing more than 1,000 rhino horn consumers in Vietnam. Trust is crucial in such interactions. No interviews could have been conducted without good rapport between interviewers and respondents. Nonetheless, soliciting interviews requires skills that one cannot expect to teach enumerators in the short term. This includes a winning sense of humour, colourful life experience, and true grit. Once good rapport is established, the use of specialised questionning techniques or bias-mitigation tools becomes unnecessary. Instead I suggest a practical approach to study consumers of illegal and luxury wildlife products in an Asian context.

A framework for conducting research on consumer demand for high-value wildlife products in Asia

“…Designing effective demand management strategies necessitates a profound comprehension of consumers, their attitudes, behaviours, beliefs, preferences, trade-offs, as well as the socioeconomic, cultural, and historical contexts that influence the consumption of high-value wildlife products . Demand for high-value wildlife products mainly comes from a specific group of wealthy consumers, who are often averse to investigations of their sensitive behaviours (Dang, 2021). Numerous surveys coordinated by conservation organizations have contributed to informing demand reduction campaigns, yet a predominant portion of the data originates from the general public.…”

“…Collecting data from wealthy consumers represents a significant challenge to researchers. Although specialized questioning techniques and bias-mitigation tools have been developed and empirically tested (Arias et al, 2020;Nuno and St. John, 2015), they prove to be less effective in interviewing wealthy consumers (Dang, 2021). Data collection requires, in the first instance, identifying potential respondents who match the profile of current or future consumers and persuading them to participate in interviews.…”

“…In Confucian societies such as China or Vietnam, seniors and highincome individuals often do not want to keep company with younger people or those of lower income groups. And staging such interviews requires a certain level of trust (Dang, 2021;Wong, 2019;Hübschle, 2016).…”

“…Drawing from my extensive experience conducting interviews with over 1,000 wealthy consumers of rhino horn and tiger bone in Vietnam (Dang, 2021), this chapter is dedicated to developing a framework for studying consumer demand for high-value wildlife products in Asia. It proceeds as follows: The next section sets the scene by providing insights into the complex and multifaceted concept of demand for high-value wildlife products.…”

Dehorning impacts white rhinoceros behaviour less than social events: evidence from Botswana

“…Rhinoceroses (hereafter called ‘rhinos’) are some of the most targeted species in wildlife poaching, and the numbers of all five species combined have decreased from 29 085 in 2012 to 26 261 individuals at the end of 2021 (Emslie et al., 2016; Ferreira et al., 2022; Save The Rhino International, 2022). This decrease is due to poaching and illegal trafficking that supplies a market for rhino horn in south‐east Asia, where increasing wealth forms a growing group of customers who can afford rhino horn medicine (Cheung et al., 2021; Dang Vu, 2021; Dang Vu & Nielsen, 2018), ceremonial drinks to improve business relations or carvings and jewellery made out of rhino horn (Dang Vu et al., 2022; Milliken & Shaw, 2012; Rademeyer, 2016; Truong et al., 2016).…”