Can immersive virtual reality be an alternative world for eliciting consumer willingness to pay for food?
- 1Department of Data Science for Food Systems, Toyo University, Asaka, Saitama, Japan.
- 2Department of Sustainable Resource Sciences, Mie University, Tsu, Mie, Japan.
Abstract
This study examines whether consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for ready-to-eat cereals differs between immersive virtual reality (IVR) and real-world (RW) environments. Real choice experiments were conducted with 227 respondents who selected reservation dates without knowing whether they corresponded to the IVR or RW setting. To derive consumers’ WTP, random parameter logit models were estimated primarily in WTP space, while preference-space models were used as a robustness check. The results show no significant differences in WTP between IVR and RW for any of the cereal products tested. This suggests that consumers’ product choices in IVR environments are based on monetary valuations, similar to those in real environments. When combined with real economic incentives, IVR-based choice experiments may therefore yield WTP estimates comparable to those obtained from conventional real choice experiments. To our knowledge, this is the first study to compare WTP between IVR and RW environments using an incentive-compatible experimental design.
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BibTeX
@article{nakajima2026immersive,
title = {{Can immersive virtual reality be an alternative world for eliciting consumer willingness to pay for food?}},
author = {Toru Nakajima and Mizuki Mukai},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0361063},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0361063},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Can immersive virtual reality be an alternative world for eliciting consumer willingness to pay for food?
AU - Toru Nakajima
AU - Mizuki Mukai
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0361063
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0361063
AB - This study examines whether consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for ready-to-eat cereals differs between immersive virtual reality (IVR) and real-world (RW) environments. Real choice experiments were conducted with 227 respondents who selected reservation dates without knowing whether they corresponded to the IVR or RW setting. To derive consumers’ WTP, random parameter logit models were estimated primarily in WTP space, while preference-space models were used as a robustness check. The results show no significant differences in WTP between IVR and RW for any of the cereal products tested. This suggests that consumers’ product choices in IVR environments are based on monetary valuations, similar to those in real environments. When combined with real economic incentives, IVR-based choice experiments may therefore yield WTP estimates comparable to those obtained from conventional real choice experiments. To our knowledge, this is the first study to compare WTP between IVR and RW environments using an incentive-compatible experimental design.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -