| dc.description.abstract | This dissertation is a study in consumer research and market analysis. In the first essay, I study the change in consumer willingness to pay for crapemyrtle plants due to pest infestation damage. The study showed that, the consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for crapemyrtles decreased, due to the changes in its attributes, such as flower density and bark color, resulting from crapemyrtle bark scale (CMBS). In the second essay, I study the effect of CMBS on businesses, by surveying their knowledge of CMBS, their thoughts and concerns about CMBS, and details about their business and sales. Results indicate that producers anticipate a significant decrease in the value of crapemyrtle if infested with CMBS, and suggest industry demand for CMBS control. An important finding of this research is that a majority of businesses support science-based CMBS control research. Another important finding from the study is that most producers believed that benefits of CMBS control outweigh the costs. I used a relative importance index to illustrate the ranking of different attributes of crapemyrtles that producers consider while making decisions about growing/purchasing the plants. Flower color was found to be the most important attribute, followed by disease resistance. Finally, in my third essay I study the effects of an external shock on the gardening industry. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses to alter the way they operate-changing hours of operation, working with limited staff, and restricting customer access indoors. An important objective of this study is to investigate the extent of these impacts on different businesses based on their size (number of employees), business type (family or individual operation, incorporated), type of operation (retail, wholesale, etc.), and revenue. In addition, the pandemic has also had an effect on the consumers. In this study, I conducted nationwide online consumer surveys to analyze the influence of COVID-19 on consumer behavior for plants gardening products. 46.21% of the consumers were spending more time gardening. 36.35% reported an increase in their gardening expenses, during the outbreak compared to last year. My research also incorporated the consumers’ personal characteristics, such as age, gender, and income level, in the analysis of change in expenses. | en |
