Social responsibility in the fast food industry

This study provides insights on consumer preferences regarding product features that relate to social responsibility in the fast food industry, based on choice based conjoint analysis. Although the fast food industry is not known for its contribution to social responsibility, and suffers a rather unhealthy image, it could pay off for firms to exploit social responsible product features. It turns out that consumers arguably do take social responsible products attributes into consideration. This study shows that social responsible product attributes are important factors to which consumers attach relatively most value when purchasing fast food. More specifically, consumers prefer social responsible product attributes. In particular can be stated that consumers prefer paper packaging over plastic packaging. For the use of biological potatoes however, no convincing evidence is found. Although results are mixed, limited evidence is found for an ‘information effect’. If consumers are more informed about social responsible initiatives, preferences regarding these initiatives become stronger. Furthermore, this study explorers whether segmentation bases can be identified. The results indicate that male, older, higher educated, and more actively involved in social responsibility consumers tend to appreciate social responsible initiatives relatively more.