Willingness to pay for whole turkey attributes during Thanksgiving holiday shopping in the United States

Although whole turkeys served at Thanksgiving are the ubiquitous kickoffs to the US winter holiday season, much remains unknown about shopping behaviors for holiday food items. Given the once-a-year purchase of the whole turkey for most households, collecting data about demand and preferences necessitated the collection of data during the week before Thanksgiving, while turkey shopping was at the forefront of consumers' minds. Despite a self-reported confidence in cooking turkeys, many respondents indicated they thawed frozen meat using improper methods. Ninety-five percent of respondents indicated that they consumed meat; 89% of respondents who consumed meat or had someone in the household who did, indicated they had purchased turkey products. Positive willingness to pay (WTP) was found for all attributes of whole turkeys studied: free range, fed a vegetarian diet, hormone use not permitted, and antibiotic use not permitted. Mean estimated WTP for free range ranged from $0.37/lb for industry verified free range to $0.74/lb for USDA verified free range; although those 2 estimates were not statistically different from each other, they were both statistically different from zero. The statistically significant estimated mean WTP for hormone use not permitted ranged from $0.85/lb for industry verification to $1.35 for USDA verification but were again not statistically different from each other. Mean WTP estimates, which were statistically significant but not different from one another for antibiotic use not permitted, ranged from $0.62/lb for industry certification to $0.72 for retailer certified. Turkeys certified to be fed a vegetarian diet had a mean WTP estimate of $0.39/lb for retailer verification to $0.60/lb for USDA verification; those mean WTP estimates were not statistically different from each other but were each statistically different from zero. Social desirability bias, which can be defined as the relative over-reporting of one's own goodness, was detected with respect to self-reported holiday eating and healthfulness statements. Relationships were found between social desirability bias, gender, and age for holiday eating statements using a seemingly unrelated regression.