Examining bias associated with recycled water and tap water

Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Increasing the use of recycled water and decreasing the consumption of bottled water are examples of water management and consumer-driven practices to improve water security and quality. However, consumers place a discount on goods irrigated with recycled water compared to conventional water, and a premium on bottled water compared to tap water. The goal of this study is to measure the biases associated with recycled water and tap water to better understand aversions associated with these sources of water that improve water security and quality. We conducted two similar studies: Conventional Water vs. Recycled Water and Bottled Water vs. Tap Water. For each study, we compared implicit bias measured through an Implicit Association Test to explicit bias. Bias measures were correlated with health, taste, and sustainability measures, and willingness-to-pay (WTP) and willingness-to-accept (WTA) values were collected for each type of water. WTP and WTA values were collected four different way to study the effect of elicitation method. Implicit and explicit biases were found to exist against recycled water and tap water. Respondents viewed conventional water and bottled water as healthier and tastier than recycled water and tap water. Additionally, the preferences for conventional water and bottled water were reinforced by larger WTP values, while elicitation method did significantly affect values. Lastly, despite implicit and explicit biases existing against recycled water and tap water, explicit bias had higher correlations with the attributes and a larger effect on the WTP and WTA values than implicit bias, suggesting explicit bias is a more predictive measure of consumer preferences.
Description
Keywords
Bias, Bottled Water, Consumer Preferences, Implicit Association Test, Recycled Water, Tap Water
Citation