Abstract
Invasive species control or eradication is an important issue. On the islands of Hawaii, this problem is exceedingly evident when it comes to Miconia calvescens (Miconia). Adequate funding is needed to control or eradicate this invasive plant, but with the limited amount of funding available for the fight against Miconia, it is important to make sure that the fund is being spent in a way that addresses the needs or preferences of the Hawaiian residents. Using the conjoint choice experiment method, we designed a survey that would measure the Hawaiian residents’ willingness to support Miconia control program attributes. The attributes focused on were cost, biodiversity loss, extent of spread and soil erosion. Latent class approach was used to assess the surveyed population to see the different preferences by individual classes. The results show three different classes or groups of individuals with varying preferences for a control program of which cost and erosion were the top preferred attributes among the classes. These groups were defined by their socio-demographics of income, the length of residency and exposure to farming/gardening activities. Even with a preference for lower cost, a group showed willingness to pay more ($2.40) for a program that reduces erosion from high to low. Finally, the biodiversity attribute had very low consideration from a majority of the respondents showing the need for educating the public regarding its importance in preserving the unique environment in Hawaii.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Boxall PC, Adamowicz WL (2002) Understanding heterogeneous preferences in random utility models: a latent class approach. Environmental & Resource Economics 23(4):421–446
Cattin P, Wittink DR (1982) Commercial use of conjoint analysis. Journal of Marketing 46(Summer):44–53
Chimera CG, Medeiros AC, Loope LL, Hobdy RH (2000) Status of management and control efforts for the invasive alien tree Miconia calvescens DC. (Melastomataceae) in Hana, East Maui. In: PCSU Technical Report #128
Colombo S, Hanley N, Louviere J (2008) Modelling preference heterogeneity in stated choice data: an analysis for public goods generated by agriculture. Stirling Economics Discussion Papers 2008–28, University of Stirling, Department of Economics
Cox GW (1999) Alien species in North America and Hawaii: impacts on natural ecosystems. Island Press, Washington, DC 400 pp
DBEDT (2005) 2005 Annual Visitor Research Report, State of Hawaii. Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, Honolulu, HI
DBEDT (2009) Annual estimates of the resident population for counties of Hawaii: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008. State of Hawaii, Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, Honolulu, HI. Retrieved 06/30/09 at: http://hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/census/popestimate/2008-county-population-hawaii/CO_EST2008_01_15.pdf
Florence J (1996) Statut IUCN des plants vasculaires endémiques de polynésie française et recommendations de potection. Papeete, Délégation à l’Environment
Green PE, Wind Y (1975) New ways to measure consumers’ judgements. Harvard Business Review 53(July–August): 89–108
Greene WH, Hensher DA (2003) A latent class model for discrete choice analysis: contrasts with mixed logit. Transportation Research Part B: Methodological 37(8):681–698
Gupta S, Chintagunta PK (1994) On using demographic variables to determine segment membership in logit mixture models. Journal of Marketing Research 32:128–136
Halbrendt CK, Wirth FF, Vaughn GF (1991) Conjoint analysis of the mid-atlantic food-fish market for farm raised hybrid striped bass. Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics 23:155–164
Halbrendt CK, Wang Q, Fraiz C, O’Dierno L (1995) Marketing Problems and Opportunities in Mid-Atlantic Seafood Retailing. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 77(5, Proceedings Issue (Dec)):1313–1318
Hanley N, Mourato S, Wright RE (2001) Choice modelling approaches: a superior alternative for environmental valuation? Journal of Economic Surveys 15(3):435–462
Hensher DA (1994) Stated preference analysis of travel chices: the state of practice. Transportation 21:107–133
Huber J (2005) Conjoint analysis: how we got here and where we are (An Update). Sawtooth Software Research Paper Series, Sequim, WA
Johnson R, Orme B (2003) Getting the most from CBC. Sawtooth Software Research Paper Series, Accessed online: http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/education/techpap.shtml
Kaiser B (2006) Economic impacts of non-indigenous species: Miconia and the Hawaiian economy. Euphytica 148:135–150
Lee D (donnal@ufl.edu) (21 Oct 2006). RE: Miconia costs. E-mailed to: Halbrendt, C (chanhalb@hawaii.edu)
Le Maitre DC, van Wilgen BW, Gelderblom CM, Bailey C, Chapmen RA, Nel JA (2002) Invasive alien trees and water resources in South Africa: case studies of the costs and benefits of management. Forest Ecology and Management 160:143–159
Loope L (1997) HNIS Report for Miconia calvescens. Accessed online November 2, 2006: http://www.hear.org/MiconiaInHawaii/
Louviere JJ, Woodworth GG (1983) Design and analysis of simulated consumer choice or allocation experiments: an approach based on aggregated data. Journal of Marketing Research 20:350–367
Louviere JJ, Hensher DA, Swait JD (2000) State Choice methods: analysis and application. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
McFadden DS (1973) Conditional logit analysis of qualitative choice behavior. In: Zarembka P (ed) Frontiers in econometrics. Academic Press, New York, NY
Medeiros AC, Loope LL, Conant P (1997) Status, ecology, and management of the invasive plant, Miconia calvescens DC (Melastomataceae) in the Hawaiian Islands. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 48:23–36
Meyer JY, Florence J (1996) Tahiti’s Naive flora endangered by the invasion of Miconia calvescens DC. Journal of Biogeography 23(Nov., 1996):775–781
Shen JY, Saijo T (2007) Does energy efficiency label alter consumers’ purchase decision? A latent class approach on Shanghai Data. Accessed online January 2008(DP-2007-E-005): http://www.osipp.osaka-u.ac.jp/archives/DP/2007/DP2007E005.pdf
Smith R (smithrya@hawaii.edu) (12 Oct 2006) RE: Historical Program Costs. E-mailed to L. Thomas (lynnatho@hawaii.edu)
Swait JR (1994) A structural equation model of latent segmentation and product choice for cross-sectional revealed preference choice data. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 1:77–89
Travisi CM, Nijkamp P (2004) Willingness to pay for agricultural environmental safety. In: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers No. 04-070/3, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
US Census Bureau (2005) 2005 American Community Survey. Accessed online February 17, 2007:http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US15&r_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_DP3&-gc_url=null&-ds_name=&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false
Vermunt JK, Magidson J (2005) Technical guide for Latent GOLD 4.0: basic and advanced. Statistical Innovations Inc., Belmont, MA
Volckner F, Hofmann J (2007) The price-perceived quality relationship: a meta-analytic review and assessment of its determinants. Marketing Letters 18(3):191–196
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Services McIntire-Stennis Program for funding the Miconia project. We would also like to thank all the people who were involved in this project such as the experts, surveyors and survey location management.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chan-Halbrendt, C., Lin, T., Yang, F. et al. Hawaiian Residents’ Preferences for Miconia Control Program Attributes Using Conjoint Choice Experiment and Latent Class Analysis. Environmental Management 45, 250–260 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-009-9415-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-009-9415-4