Protest attitudes and stated preferences: Evidence on scale usage heterogeneity

• Autor(a) principal: Cunha-e-Sá, Maria A.
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Outros Autores: Nunes, Luis Catela, Otrachshenko, Vladimir
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/11163
• topic: Scale usage heterogeneity; Likert scale; Protest attitudes; Contingent valuation; Latent class model

We contribute to the stated preference literature by addressing scale usage heterogeneity regarding how individuals answer attitudinal questions capturing lack of trust in institutions and fairness issues. Using a latent class model, we conduct a contingent valuation study to elicit the willingness-to-pay to preserve a recreational site. We find evidence that respondents within the same class, that is, with similar preferences and attitudes, interpret the Likert scale differently when answering the attitudinal questions. We identify different patterns of scale usage heterogeneity within and across classes and associate them with individual characteristics. Our approach contributes to better a understanding of individual behavior in the presence of protest attitudes.