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Abstract
A unique discrete choice experiment (DCE) is used to estimate the relative importance of
quality attributes to Australian beef consumers. In the DCE, consumers choose their
preferred beef steaks from options varying in a large number of intrinsic (marbling and fat
trim) and extrinsic/credence (brand, health, forage, meat standards/quality, and production
and process claims) attributes. This study is the only known DCE to present these attributes
to consumers visually – in a manner that more realistically simulates the retail choice
scenario for beef and allows us to evaluate the relative importance of attributes that
consumers use both consciously and unconsciously when making product choices.
Respondents’ beef choices were analyzed using a latent class scale adjusted choice model.
We address two import issues that have potentially strong implications for the validity of
estimated attribute values: intrinsic attributes are likely to be underestimated in their
importance if not presented visually; and DCEs that exclude important attributes (such as
intrinsic characteristics) are likely to overestimate the value of product characteristics. The
results suggest that visual attribute level presentation in DCEs results in less biased value
estimates. Therefore, it is not only important to consider what attributes to include, but also
how you present the attributes.