Understanding why consumers in China switch between wild, farmed and synthetic bear bile products

Abstract

An important rationale for legally-farmed and synthetic wildlife products are that they reduce illegal wild-sourced trade by supplying markets with sustainable alternatives. For this to work, more established illegal-product consumers must switch to legal alternatives than new legal-product consumers drawn to illegal wild products. Despite widespread debate on the magnitude and direction of switching, studies among actual consumers are lacking. We used an anonymous online survey of 1421 Traditional Chinese Medicine consumers in China to investigate switching between legal farmed, synthetic, and illegal wild bear bile. We examined past consumption behaviour, and applied a discrete choice experiment framed within worsening hypothetical disease scenarios, using latent class models to investigate groups with shared preferences. Bear bile consumers (86% respondents) were wealthier, more likely to have family who consumed bile, and less knowledgeable about bile treatments than non-consumers. Consumer preferences were heterogenous but most consumers preferred switching between bile types as disease worsened. We identified five distinct latent classes within our sample: 'law-abiding consumers' (34% respondents), who prefer legal products and were unlikely to switch; two 'all-natural consumer' groups (53%), who dislike synthetics but may switch between farmed and wild products; and two 'non-consumer' groups (12%) who prefer not to buy bile. People with past experience of bile consumption had different preferences than those without. Willingness to switch to wild products was related to believing they were legal, although the likelihood of switching was mediated by preferences for cheaper products sold in legal, familiar places. We show that consumers of wild bile may switch, given the availability of a range of legal alternatives, while legal-product consumers may switch to illegal products if the barriers to doing so are small. Understanding preferences that promote or impede switching should be a key consideration when attempting to predict consumer behaviour in complex wildlife markets. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Asiatic black bear; consumer behaviour; consumer demand; stated preferences; supply-side approaches; wildlife farming.

FIGURE 1

An example of final choice questions (presented to respondent only in Chinese, annotated here with an English translation) in an online survey on bear bile consumption and consumer preferences in China, showing the framing statement, scenario, choice card, and no choice option

FIGURE 2

Summary of latent class model results identified using a discrete choice experiment on bear bile consumer preferences, showing the characteristics of class members and their preferences for bear bile products

FIGURE 3

Examples of how individual consumer preferences may promote or impede the likelihood of switching between wild, farmed, or synthetic wildlife products. Specific preferences will be dependent on market context, consumer characteristics, and motivation to make a switch. Motivations for switching or entering the market may include change in personal wealth, change in availability or legality of a product, introduction of a new product to the market, or increased urgency of need for the product (e.g., illness)