Food vending characteristics and students’ preferences for food vending services: a discrete choice experiment

Abstract

There is limited understanding of the influence of multiple characteristics of food vending on students’ preferences for vended food. This study assessed students’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for various characteristics of food vending service. A Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) was administered to 585 students of the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies, Ghana. The respondents were selected through multi-stage sampling. Data was collected using a structured experimental survey questionnaire. Six attributes (and attribute levels) were identified from a qualitative study and used to design the DCE: Food taste (natural vs. spicy), environmental sanitation (good vs. poor), vendor’s personal hygiene (good vs. poor), customer relations (good vs. poor), vendors’ location (far from vs. near to students) and price ((1US$=GH¢4.5) per plate (GH¢3, 6, 9 and 12). Nested logit modelling of the data showed that the highest preference and marginal WTP values were associated with good environmental sanitation, good personal hygiene, natural taste of food, good customer relation, and proximity of vendor, in that order. The study concludes that health consciousness is a major factor that attracts students to vended food. Food vendors should, therefore, improve upon the sanitation of their environments and their personal hygiene to attract and retain customers.

Keywords: Food Vending Characteristics, Student Preferences, Willingness to Pay, Discrete Choice Experiment, Nested Logit Model