The influence of attribute cutoffs on consumers' choices of a functional food

Non-compensatory preferences are investigated by incorporating attribute cutoffs into models of consumer choices for food with health-related attributes (omega-3 content) that may be associated with genetic modification. We find empirical evidence that some individuals tend to use attribute cutoffs in decision-making, that incorporating these into the modelling of consumer choices significantly improves model fit, that some respondents are willing to take a utility penalty rather than eliminate an alternative when a cutoff violation occurs and that there is considerable heterogeneity in willingness to violate cutoffs. The study also provides some support to the hypothesis that ignoring cutoff endogeneity in model estimation may generate biased estimates.