Determinants of Urban Consumers’ Willingness to Pay more for Sustainably Produced Wheat and Rice: Evidence from Punjab, India

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21350265

Priya and Sandeep Kapur (School of Business Studies, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab)

Sustainable food consumption is vital for environmental preservation and resilient rural economies; however, information on Indian consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for sustainability in staple cereals is limited (Bhattarai, 2019; Biswas & Roy, 2015; Sharief & Ahmed, 2023). Primary data were collected from 400 urban consumers in Ludhiana and Jalandhar utilizing a Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) based questionnaire (Ajzen, 1991; Miao et al., 2020; Gupta & Sharma, 2023). We utilised descriptive statistics, one-sample t-tests, and PLS-SEM to analyse the constructs’ levels and their structural relationships (Hair et al., 2019; Hair & Alamer, 2022). Ninety-five percent of respondents expressed a favourable willingness to pay (WTP), with sixty-five percent willing to pay an extra six to fifteen percent for sustainable wheat and rice (Bhattarai, 2019; Cook et al., 2021). Attitude, perceived behavioural control (PBC), knowledge of eco-labels, and trust significantly increased willingness to pay (WTP) (p < 0.01), whereas environmental concern did not, indicating a concern-behavior gap (Sriramaneni, 2025; Sultan et al., 2022). The model explained 68.9% of the variation in willingness to pay (WTP), suggesting that improved eco-label literacy, greater institutional trust, and heightened perceived control can stimulate demand for sustainable cereals and support low-impact production systems in Punjab (Sustainable Rice Platform, 2023a; Orbitas, 2025).