Riccardo Valesi, Daniela Andreini, Giuseppe Pedeliento
{"title":"Insect-based food consumption: Hedonic or utilitarian motives? Moderation and segmentation analyses","authors":"Riccardo Valesi, Daniela Andreini, Giuseppe Pedeliento","doi":"10.1016/j.foodqual.2024.105193","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The ethical and environmental rhetoric employed by institutions and companies to foster insect-based food consumption neglects individualistic motives that can prompt consumers to buy this novel food. To fill this gap, this paper reports a study in which consumers’ hedonic and utilitarian motives and the relative consumer profiles for insect-based food consumption were investigated. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior, the study collected data from 929 participants and applied a structural equation modeling analysis to evaluate the moderating effect produced by hedonic and utilitarian motives on the intention to consume insect-based food. Based on the same dataset, then performed was a cluster analysis to define the profile of consumers according to the level of acceptance of insect-based food. The results indicated that hedonic motives have a positive impact on consumers' intention to consume insect-based food, while utilitarian-ethical and utilitarian-health motives have no and a negative impact, respectively. These findings suggest that promoting the hedonic aspects of insect-based foods would be more effective in increasing consumer acceptance than emphasizing only ethical and health utilitarian values; and they also highlight the importance of creating an emotional and experiential connection with consumers in order to improve the effectiveness of marketing efforts.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":322,"journal":{"name":"Food Quality and Preference","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950329324000958/pdfft?md5=b9eac5ff7f5ae007b1029d20487a2465&pid=1-s2.0-S0950329324000958-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Food Quality and Preference","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950329324000958","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The ethical and environmental rhetoric employed by institutions and companies to foster insect-based food consumption neglects individualistic motives that can prompt consumers to buy this novel food. To fill this gap, this paper reports a study in which consumers’ hedonic and utilitarian motives and the relative consumer profiles for insect-based food consumption were investigated. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior, the study collected data from 929 participants and applied a structural equation modeling analysis to evaluate the moderating effect produced by hedonic and utilitarian motives on the intention to consume insect-based food. Based on the same dataset, then performed was a cluster analysis to define the profile of consumers according to the level of acceptance of insect-based food. The results indicated that hedonic motives have a positive impact on consumers' intention to consume insect-based food, while utilitarian-ethical and utilitarian-health motives have no and a negative impact, respectively. These findings suggest that promoting the hedonic aspects of insect-based foods would be more effective in increasing consumer acceptance than emphasizing only ethical and health utilitarian values; and they also highlight the importance of creating an emotional and experiential connection with consumers in order to improve the effectiveness of marketing efforts.
期刊介绍:
Food Quality and Preference is a journal devoted to sensory, consumer and behavioural research in food and non-food products. It publishes original research, critical reviews, and short communications in sensory and consumer science, and sensometrics. In addition, the journal publishes special invited issues on important timely topics and from relevant conferences. These are aimed at bridging the gap between research and application, bringing together authors and readers in consumer and market research, sensory science, sensometrics and sensory evaluation, nutrition and food choice, as well as food research, product development and sensory quality assurance. Submissions to Food Quality and Preference are limited to papers that include some form of human measurement; papers that are limited to physical/chemical measures or the routine application of sensory, consumer or econometric analysis will not be considered unless they specifically make a novel scientific contribution in line with the journal''s coverage as outlined below.