Relative importance of price in forming individuals’ decisions toward sustainable food: A calibrated auction-conjoint experiment

•Price does have a relevant role on defining consumers’ WTP for sustainable food.•People’s valuations of apples are affected by the production system.•A lack of information regarding to integrated production certification has been noticed.•A self-explicated conjoint method used alone would likely lead to overstated estimates of WTP.•The CACM methodology allows developing a rational behavior in the bidding experiment.

This paper explores the importance of pricing information in dealing with sustainable food preferences. It employs the Calibrated Auction-Conjoint Valuation Method (CACM), by comparing non-adjusted values from a self-explicated (hypothetical) conjoint method to the final calibrated values entered into an adjusted (real) auction. We found consumers significantly reduced their WTP when moving from the initial stage of the CACM (hypothetical self-explicated conjoint method) to the final stage (real auction), primarily by placing more importance on product prices, implying that WTP values from a self-explicated conjoint method used alone would likely lead to overstated estimates of WTP.