Willingness to pay for midwife-endorsed product: An Australian best–worst study

ABSTRACT

This article examined the impact of midwife endorsement on stated choice preferences in one of the highest volume baby care product categories, diapers. An online survey was conducted testing 12 alternatives of which six were midwife endorsed. A total of 215 responses were analyzed using best–worst and multinomial logit modeling. Results indicate that package size, price, and brand are more sensitive predictors of stated choice preferences than midwife endorsement. Respondents were willing to pay 2.3% more for a diaper that was endorsed by midwives. These findings suggest that midwife endorsement should be pursued by health marketers.

KEYWORDS:

• Best–worst
• diapers
• endorsement
• midwives
• stated choice preferences

Acknowledgment

The authors wish to acknowledge Mr. Ieaun Hyde for the opportunity to be involved in the product-development process from inception to market, and to acknowledge the financial support that made this research possible.