Combating the Consumption of Rhino Horn

College of business

Associate Professor Dr. Hieu Nguyen’s research interests are often based on his own personal experience and intellectual curiosity, centering on issues in consumer behaviors, including consumer-brand relationships, attachment, consumer well-being, and historical visual communication. Dr. Nguyen and his co-authors recently published a study in the Journal of Consumer Affairs investigating the motivations for rhino horn consumption in health-related contexts in Vietnam. Despite numerous efforts by non-profit organizations and governments worldwide to curb wildlife consumption, demand for endangered species proves to be persistent and continues to rise, especially in Asian markets where consumers purchase and consume wildlife as traditional medicine, culinary delicacies, love charms, fashion, and decorative items.

Dr. Nguyen and his team conducted in-depth interviews with 18 informants in Vietnam’s two major cities (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City) who were either users of rhino horns or were involved in rhino horn purchase and consumption by close family members. The goal was to investigate the interplay of social, cultural, and psychological factors that underlie rhino horn consumption for health-related purposes and show the process through which Vietnamese consumers form their beliefs or attitudes while normalizing and justifying their usage of rhino horn.

These insights led the team to recommend a multipronged approach to developing programs to combat and curb rhino horn purchase and consumption. They proposed that, along with campaigns appealing to consumers’ concern for the plight of the rhinoceros, effective messages debunking the myth of rhino horn’s medicinal properties should be considered. Another counterintuitive suggestion was that rather than incinerating confiscated rhino horns, governments should consider selling them to the public at an extremely low price to make them less rare and lower their “myth” status. A final suggestion was that the government consider higher fines and penalties for not only traders and consumers of rhino horn but also health practitioners or healers who make recommendations for its usage.

Dr. Nguyen’s hope is that his research will provide actionable insights to governments and conservation organizations, such as the World Wildlife Fund, in their efforts to curb the illegal poaching, trading, and consumption of endangered species, including the rhinoceros.