The impact of health and environmental information on consumer valuation of portion sizes: Evidence from an experimental auction

Abstract

We conducted a laboratory experiment to investigate how presenting the health and/or environmental benefits of smaller portion sizes impacts consumer willingness to pay for small versus large sandwich portions. Participants were provided with information under different treatments, presented either sequentially or simultaneously. Results demonstrate that, across all treatments, the provision of health and environmental information decreased the premium for the large sandwich. No significant differences were observed based on the order in which the information was presented, nor between health- and environment-related information. However, the mode of information provision played a critical role; sequential information provision resulted in a significantly greater reduction in the premium for large sandwich portions compared to simultaneous provision. These findings highlight the potential of targeted informational interventions to encourage smaller portion size preferences, which could support efforts to reduce obesity and food waste.