Interaction Between Involvement and Variety Seeking among Craft Beer Drinkers Predicts Willingness to Pay for Higher ABV(%)

Schimmel/Conrades Science Center Atrium

Past research has looked at involvement and variety seeking among craft beer drinkers, however, little research has looked at how these factors predict consumer behaviors, such as choice for low and high alcohol content (ABV) in their craft beer. Participants were 322 workers recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk who completed survey scales on their involvement and variety seeking for craft beer. Participants also rated their willingness to pay for low (6%) and high (10%) ABV. The results supported the hypothesis that participants would be willing to pay more for high ABV beer. An analysis of multiple regression also showed that involvement and the interaction between involvement and variety seeking were significant predictors of the difference between participants’ willingness to pay for 6% and 10% craft beer. These data show that among those with average or above average variety seeking for craft beer, higher interest in craft beer predicts a higher willingness to pay for higher ABV, however, the same prediction does not hold for those with low variety seeking for craft beer.