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Estimating Willingness to Pay for Switching to Bring Shopping Bags in Vietnam

Journal of the Faculty of Agriculture Kyushu University 2023 1 citation ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Linh Thi Ut TRAN, Yoshifumi Takahashi, Hisako NOMURA, Mitsuyasu Yabe

Summary

Researchers surveyed Vietnamese consumers' willingness to pay plastic bag fees that would encourage them to bring reusable bags. Structural equation modeling showed that environmental literacy and positive attitudes toward sustainability significantly predicted willingness to pay. The findings suggest that combining education with economic incentives can shift consumer behavior toward reducing plastic bag use.

This study aims to estimate the factors affecting consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) plastic bag fees that make them agree to carry their own bags during shopping in Vietnam. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was applied to determine the meaningful relationship between WTP and Attitude (AT), Subjective norms (SN), Perceived behavior (PB), and Eco–Literature (EL). The survey was conducted online using a structured questionnaire through nationwide social media distribution. The main findings indicate that three latent variables AT, SN, and PB have insignificant effects on WTP. Only EL had a significant relationship with WTP. More precisely, in this relationship, the responses of environmentally aware women were stronger than those of men who agreed to bring their bags. Additionally, the fee that could affect consumers’ behavior toward reducing plastic bags was found to be at least 850.5 dong/bag (≈ 0.04 USD). This research contributes valuable evidence for the policymakers to complete Directive No. 33 which would issue a fee for plastic bags in the future. Besides, the research also provides better knowledge of consumers for using shopping bags.

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