Willingness to pay for houseplants in the Czech Republic

• Název práce v češtině: Ochota platit za pokojové rostliny v České republice
• Název v anglickém jazyce: Willingness to pay for houseplants in the Czech Republic
• Klíčová slova: ochota platit, pokojové rostliny
• Klíčová slova anglicky: willingness to pay, houseplants
• Akademický rok vypsání: 2021/2022
• Typ práce: bakalářská práce
• Jazyk práce: angličtina
• Ústav: Institut ekonomických studií (23-IES)
• Vedoucí / školitel: Mgr. Petr Polák, M.Sc., Ph.D.
• Řešitel: skrytý - zadáno vedoucím/školitelem
• Datum přihlášení: 31.05.2022
• Datum zadání: 31.05.2022
• Datum a čas obhajoby: 13.06.2023 09:00
• Místo konání obhajoby: Opletalova, O206, místnost. č. 206
• Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: 02.05.2023
• Datum proběhlé obhajoby: 13.06.2023
• Oponenti: PhDr. Lenka Šťastná, Ph.D.

Seznam odborné literatury

Bibliography
Breidert, C., Hahsler M., Reutterer T. (2006): “A Review of Methods for Measuring Willingness-toPay.” Inovative Marketing, Volume 2, Issue 4, 2006, p 8-32.
Tina Bringslimark, Terry Hartig, Grete G. Patil,The psychological benefits of indoor plants: A critical review of the experimental literature,Journal of Environmental Psychology,Volume 29, Issue 4,2009,Pages 422-433.
John K. Horowitz, K.E. McConnell: “Willingness to accept, willingness to pay and the income effect”Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, p 537-545.
Marine Le Gall-Ely. Definition, Measurement and Determinants of the Consumer’s Willingness to Pay: a Critical Synthesis and Directions for Further Research. Recherche et Applications en Marketing (French Edition), SAGE Publications, 2009, 24 (2), pp.91-113. ffhal-00522828
Wooldridge, J. M. (2013): “Introductory econometrics: a modern approach. “5th ed. Mason, OH: SouthWestern Cengage Learning.

Předběžná náplň práce

Outline
1. Introduction
2. Literature review
3. Theoretical concepts
4. Data and analysis
5. Results
6. Conclusion

Předběžná náplň práce v anglickém jazyce

Research question and motivation
Majority of people have at least one houseplant in their homes, some have them as home décor, others have houseplant collecting as a hobby and some have houseplants for their mental health, or simply because it makes them feel good to be surrounded by greenery. During the pandemic, when people spent most of their time at home, they started to buy more houseplants.
However, the price of houseplants differs substantially on the market. While some houseplants can cost around 100 CZK, other can cost even 15 000 CZK. This can be due to many factors, such as size, difficulty to maintain, how rare the plant is or the import cost, as most plants are imported to the Czech Republic. On the Czech houseplant market the price differs even if we consider the same houseplant. Price of a certain plant, the Epipremnum Aureum, in the same sized pot can range anywhere from around 150 CZK to 360 CZK.
In my thesis, I will study how much are costumers willing to pay for certain plants on the market using the concept of willingness to pay. Willingness to pay is a concept stating the maximum amount a customer is willing to pay for a certain good on the market. It can be used by companies to help set a price to their product.
My research question therefore is: How much are people in the Czech Republic willing to pay for houseplants?
Contribution
The aim of the thesis is to analyse consumers’ willingness to pay for houseplants in the Czech Republic and to determine which factors are crucial when making a purchase. The concept of willingness to pay has been analysed before and there are many studies about it. Most of the previous studies were mostly on intangible products (such as ebooks or internet-based products or green energy). With my research I will study this concept on a tangible, everyday product that houseplants are. With my research I hope to contribute to the existing studies by measuring willingness to pay on houseplants, which has to the best of my knowledge, has not been done before. I hope to shed light on the process of how consumers decide when they purchase a houseplant. Findings of the thesis could be useful to companies on the houseplant market in the Czech Republic.

Methodology
There are multiple ways of measuring willingness to pay, but we can divide them into two main categories, based on revealed preference (market data and experiments) and stated preference (surveys). In my thesis, data stated preference data will be analysed and the data will be obtained via self-made online survey. This survey will be distributed by social media and emails. The survey will be asking questions about demographic variables affecting WTP (age, gender, etc.), and other factors specific to the houseplant, such as size of the plant, difficulty to maintain or another quality, such as the ability to purify air. Furthermore the survey will be asking questions about the respondent’s relationship with plants.