*2.3. Price Consciousness Measures*

The standard definition of price consciousness in economics refers to the change of consumer demand resulting from a change of price, akin to "price elasticity". However, research on "price elasticity" is primarily at an aggregate level and cannot account for sensitivity to price changes at an individual level. To measure individual consumers' level of price consciousness, Lichtenstein et al. [32,37] suggest using a price range or price thresholds to approximate consumers' reactions towards price changes. Low et al. [38,39] define the degree to which a customer's buying decisions are based on price-related aspects. Following these ideas, a price consciousness indicator was developed to measure an individual participant's price consciousness in this study. Specifically, participants indicated if the plant was eliminated from selection when the price, as an important attribute, did not fall into a certain range during their decision-making process for each plant (i.e., elimination strategy). Participants were then divided into two groups where the 'price conscious' group consisted of individuals who indicated price was used as an elimination strategy for purchasing

decisions and the 'non-price conscious' group comprising individuals who did not indicate that price was used as an elimination strategy. In other words, participants utilized a different strategy when deciding whether to purchase the product (elimination and additive strategies were explained to participants prior to answering this question).

Thirty participants (about one-third of the sample) are included in the price conscious group and 66 (two-thirds of the sample) in the not-price conscious group (Table 1). Price conscious consumers are younger, consist of a higher percentage of females, have larger households, and lower incomes than the non-price conscious group. These results align with previous studies showing price-conscious individuals tend to be younger with lower incomes and/or greater financial stressors (such as providing for a larger family) [9,12].
