Intervention (Hidden)
We deliver two pieces of information to consumers. First, we give them messages about the consequences of eating conventional (non-organic) foods on health or the environment. Then, we use a color scale (traffic lights) to show how far a particular food is from being organic. Literature finds that concern about the environment and personal well-being (health) is correlated to organic food consumption (Holloway et al., 2007; Shafie & Rennie, 2012; Hidalgo-Baz et al., 2017). We intend to create the messages in a framing that facilitates behavioral change. We make consumers aware of their default option, conventional foods, and appeal to their emotions through images from the local context of the harmful consequences of consuming this type of food. Then, we present the more beneficial option for their health or the environment at the same price (availability bias), i.e., organic food, offering them to go from loss to gain. In this way, we appeal to their loss aversion to change their default choice (Díaz & Del Valle, 2016).
The second part of the intervention is the color scale, which is similar to traffic lights. The purpose of this scale is to guide consumers towards a more automatic and implicit decision-making process, reducing their cognitive load (Vlaemick et al 2014; Muller et al 2019; Crossetto et al 2019). The scale grades the intensity of production, meaning the excessive use of agrochemicals and machinery. The lower the score, the closer the food is to organic production. We assign the red color to the least organic food and the green color to the most organic one.
We will implement the intervention as a framed field experiment conducted inside farmers' markets in a store set up exclusively for this purpose. A sketch of the experiment's store is available in the research protocol. Participants receive a voucher of a fixed monetary value that they can use to select conventional fresh food. A facilitator accompanies the participants and shows them a video with the intervention's messages. The videos will be available in Spanish and Quechua. Then, we give them the option of exchanging their initial food choices for more organic ones. The scale is going to be represented by colored ribbons attached to the foods' packages. In the end, the facilitator interviews participants to collect demographic and some additional information. Video scripts and surveys are available in Spanish in Docs & Materials.
We will compare the intervention against a baseline scenario that will serve as the control. In this scenario, participants select conventional food and later can exchange it for more organic food. However, they don't know which food is more organic. They only see foods' physical appearance and are informed about their place of origin. The colored ribbons have no meaning to them. Hence, we believe they will act on their prior knowledge and the rules of thumb they use to identify quality food (Scheibehenne et. al., 2007). We would expect the intervention to encourage choosing more organic food than the baseline scenario because it makes it easier to identify this food and the consequences of eating conventional food more salient (Vlaemick et al 2014; Muller et al 2019; Crossetto et al 2019).
We plan to identify the effect of the color scale and the messages separately. To do that, we divide the intervention into four treatments: (1) color scale, (2) color scale and health information, (3) color scale and environment information, (4) color scale, health, and environment information. We plan to assign each participant to one treatment or the control group selected at random.
We intend to use ODK forms to collect survey data and food choices. The ODK forms also include the videos. Facilitators train to use ODK forms and guide participants throughout the experiment, answering comprehension questions related to the video and color scale. They and participants will know the experiment's steps and compensations, but they will not be aware of its final purpose.