Are Consumers Willing to Pay for Sustainability: Survey-Based Analytical Insights for Managers

Abstract

Despite the global rise in consumer interest for sustainable food and beverage products, the willingness to pay rarely turns into an actual purchase. The present study analyses primary survey data gathered from 179 urban Indian respondents to examine this problem. The analysis employs statistical tools such as exploratory factor analysis along with tests like Composite Reliability, Average Variance Extracted and Heterotrait-Monotrait checks, Chi-square with Holm-Bonferroni correction, L1-regularised logistic regression, bootstrap mediation, moderated-mediation diagnostics, and Gaussian-mixture latent class analysis. Post correction, only Monthly Income remains significant with willingness to pay (Holm p = 0.018). A correlational analysis consistent with the Theory of Planned Behavior shows that the Importance → Habit → Willingness to Pay indirect path is positive and significant (95 percent bootstrap CI [0.011, 0.380]); at the available sample size, a direct income–attitude interaction is not observable. Three key consumer typologies - high-WTP, aspirational, and disengaged - exhibit willingness-to-pay rates that differ by a factor of approximately four-and-a-half. Certain variables, such as awareness, habit-building and price-tier strategies, emerge as the critical firm-level managerial levers.