Consumer Preference between Fire Risk and Chemical Risk for Home Appliances Containing Flame Retardants in Plastic Parts

Abstract

A questionnaire survey was conducted to explore consumer preference between fire risk and chemical risk, with a focus on electric and electronic home appliances whose plastic parts either contain or do not contain flame retardants (FRs). The analytic hierarchy process was used to evaluate the change in consumer preference before and after watching a video describing the effects of FRs. The t-test was used to compare the priority of product alternatives for subjects grouped according to risk acceptance and risk-avoidance orientation. From the results, the degree of each consumer preference for “Safety” was the highest before watching the video, and the degree of preference for “Safety” increased and those for “Health” and “Environment” decreased after watching the video. The degrees of consumer preference for “The product with FRs” and “The product without FRs” were almost the same before watching the video, but the preference for “The product with FRs” increased after watching the video. This tendency to change the priority of products from before to after watching the video was generally the same in each group.

Keywords

• flame retardant
• consumer preference
• questionnaire survey
• analytic hierarchy process