Search results

This study aims to examine diners’ behavioral intention to visit an edible insect restaurant, which is known to play an important role in sustainability, by integrating the theory of planned behavior and the norm activation theory.

A total of 439 samples were collected in South Korea. Structural equation modeling was used to test hypotheses.

The attitudes were influenced by subjective norms. Intentions were affected by the attitudes, the subjective norms and the perceived behavioral control. In addition, the five dimensions of cognitive triggers, which include environmental awareness, ascribed responsibility, biospheric value, environmental concern and perceived effectiveness, positively affected personal norms, and the personal norms positively influenced behavioral intentions.

It is an important practical implication of this study that tourism practitioners were delivered with the knowledge of establishing marketing strategies based on the destination’s green image of insect restaurants.

This study is expected to contribute to the extant knowledge, which will enable an understanding of the sustainability values of edible insect restaurants, and it will guide tourism practitioners to establish effective sustainable practices for the tourism industry.

Climate change and global population growth are threatening the sustainability of hospitality food systems. Foodservice organizations are seeking an optimal solution for this problem. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization proposed edible insects as a solution, yet the “yuck” factor discourages consumers from actively endorsing this option. Thus, this study aims to find ways to increase consumer acceptance of edible insects.

A 2 (message framing: hedonic vs utilitarian) × 2 (celebrity endorsement: absence vs presence) × 2 (social support: low vs high) between-subjects factorial design experiment was conducted.

The significant three-way interaction effects show that when celebrity endorsement is absent, there is no difference in restaurant advocacy (RA) and experience satisfaction between utilitarian and hedonic message framing, regardless of low (vs high) social support. However, when celebrity endorsement is present and social support is not lacking, a hedonic (vs a utilitarian) message had more significant effects on dependent variables. Conversely, when celebrity-endorsed messages receive high social support, utilitarian (vs hedonic) messages had a more substantial effect on the outcome variables.

This study contributes to alternative protein and associated consumer psychology and hospitality marketing literature by introducing marketing strategies for edible insects. By demonstrating the three-way interaction effects of message framing, celebrity, endorsement and social support on RA and experience satisfaction, this study could demonstrate some boundary conditions to consider when applying celebrity endorsement strategies (e.g. message framing and social support). Also, by addressing the effects of social support, this study builds upon the lack of hospitality literature on online social support.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the readiness of young Italian people to consume insects and the psychosocial determinants associated with edible insect consumption, in order to evaluate whether insect-based food could be an alternative food source.

An explorative study was conducted, using focus group interviews as the technique for data collection. In total, 32 consumers, aged 20-35 years took part in five focus group interviews.

Significant determinants comprised appearance, farming and sustainability. Participants’ willingness to eat insect-based food is dependent on the form in which the products are presented to them. Crustaceans were frequently mentioned as a comparison in terms of distaste. Lack of practice in preparation was a major barrier to consumption. To expand consumption participants suggested an active role for public health institutions. Even though with some uncertainty, there are some people prepared to consume insects.

Due to the restricted size of the sample survey, the findings are considered as exploratory research. Further investigation is required among other young adults in order to delineate promotional strategies.

There is a lack of information regarding the willingness to consume edible insects in Italy. Due to the restricted size of the sample survey, the findings are considered as exploratory research. Further investigation is required among other young adults in order to delineate promotional strategies.

To generate the measurement instrument seven steps were implemented. A total of 819 questionnaires were collected in Yunnan Province, China, where it has long tradition of eating insects.

This study aims to explore the influences of the multidimensional benefits of consuming insect-based food on its consequences. Food neophilia and hedonic motivation are used as moderating variables.

Health, nutritional value, taste and cultural domains effectively explained consumers’ attitudes toward insect-based food, food consumption value, satisfaction, subjective well-being, loyalty to the restaurant and community attachment. Food neophilia and hedonic motivation partially moderated the relationships between the proposed constructs.

This study provides a conceptual model for exploring insect-based food consumption experiences and offers a useful guideline for developing and designing marketing strategies for stakeholders in the food and restaurant industry.

This is one of the few studies examining the benefits of consuming insect-based food from the perspective of consumers.

The primary purpose of this study is to reveal how the local food consumption intentions of international tourists are influenced by core variables of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The secondary purpose is to explore the moderating role of responsible tourist behavior in these relationships.

The present research was conducted on international tourists visiting Antalya, Turkey. The research data, collected from a total of 457 respondents, were tested and analyzed via partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

Attitudes toward local food and perceived behavioral control have a positive and significant impact on local food consumption intention. Also, responsible tourist behavior has a moderating effect on both the relationship between attitude toward local food and local food consumption intention and the relationship between subjective norms and local food consumption intention.

In their advertising campaigns, destination management organizations (DMOs) and local restaurants should prepare more sentimental advertising content by further focusing on nonrenewable limited resources of the destination and addressing tourists’ role in consuming the limited resources in question. Thus, tourists’ sense of responsibility toward destinations may be increased, possibly stimulating enhancement in their local food consumption intentions.

This study explores the role of responsible tourist behavior in the construct of local food consumption through the lens of TPB. Said construct was included in the local food consumption intention model. This endeavor has paved the way for unraveling the interaction between responsible tourist behavior, attitudes and subjective norms, all of which are fundamental elements of the TPB toward increasing local food consumption intentions. This constitutes a remarkable contribution in understanding the local food consumption behavior of tourists. Moreover, because local food will be consumed in local restaurants located in the destinations, understanding the local food consumption intentions of tourists will enable local restaurants to develop innovative products by focusing on local food.

The purpose of this paper is to apply the concept of consumer innovativeness to the robotic restaurants field.

A research model including 13 hypotheses is examined using a sample of 409 subjects gathered.

The results indicate that four underlying dimensions of consumer innovativeness have a positive effect on overall image, which, in turn, increases desire. In addition, desire aids to enhance the two dimensions of behavior intentions.

Robotic restaurant managers are required to focus more on quality experience-seeking, hedonic experience-seeking, venturesomeness and social distinctiveness using automated systems, which aid to enhance the image of robotic restaurants.

Consumer innovativeness is regarded as a significant concept in the domain of a novel technology-based product and service, but it has not been explored in the restaurant context. Thus, this study tried to apply consumer innovativeness to the robotic restaurant industry for the first time and explained how to form consumer behavioral intentions based on the concept.

Does every customer respond in the same way to restaurants’ preventive measures (PM)? To answer this question, the purpose of the present study was to examine the moderating role of need-for-cognition (NC) and customer-restaurant relationship strength (RS) in the impact of restaurants’ PM on dine-in intentions using a trust (Study 1) and psychological discomfort (Study 2) as mediators.

Two studies were conducted using a 2 (PM: present vs control) × 2 (RS: strong vs weak) factorial design. NC was treated as a continuous variable in the regression model.

The results of two experimental studies showed that people with a high NC are more likely to show positive responses (higher trust and less discomfort) to restaurants’ PM when they have strong relationships with the restaurant. In contrast, people with a low NC did not show any interaction between PM and RS for trust and discomfort.

For restaurants targeting people with a high NC and with more returning customers than new customers, the study results suggest that safety measures should be promoted.

The present study expands the knowledge of customers’ reactions to restaurants’ PM by using the theoretical foundation of the ELM. The results of this study contribute to hospitality research by demonstrating the differences in customers’ thought processes according to their NC and the strength of their relationship with the restaurant.

The purpose of this study was to explore if five subdimensions of perceived risk (financial, time, privacy, performance and psychological risks) negatively affects image. In addition, this study aims to investigate if image has a positive effect on intentions to use. Lastly, the purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effect of Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), before and after the outbreak, in the relationship between perceived risk and image.

Data were collected from 331 people before the COVID-19 outbreak and 343 people after the COVID-19 outbreak. To test hypotheses, this study used structural equation modeling.

Time, performance and psychological risks negatively affected image before the outbreak of COVID-19. Meanwhile, performance risks and psychological risks had a negative influence on image only after the outbreak of COVID-19. In addition, there was demonstrated to be a positive relationship between image and intentions to use, both before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. Finally, the outbreak of COVID-19 positively moderates the relationship between performance risk and image.

The current study provides the following practical implications. First, industry practitioners need to develop a performance guarantee system which enhances the quality assurance of drone food delivery services (DFDS). Second, live streaming or creative activities would help to visualize DFDS in a way that stresses the stable operation of these services.

The importance of contactless services has been emphasized ever since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. However, there has been very little research on the future of contactless services after COVID-19. This study investigated the perceived risk from DFDS as a form of contactless service which has not been conducted before. The findings of this study will improve the understanding of the changes that have occurred in consumers’ perception of risk from DFDS during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study aims to explore the barriers to upscaling the production capacity of the edible insect sector in the UK and to identify the impact of current regulation on the sector's development.

A significant proportion of edible insect-producing companies within the UK were identified through an online market research database and contacted via email to invite them to participate in this study. Phone interviews were conducted with ten companies. Thematic analysis was adopted for data analysis.

There were five themes identified as barriers to the upscaling of the production for the edible insect sector in the UK: insect feeding materials, production capacity, expertise and knowledge, new product development and regulatory uncertainty.

This research was based on a qualitative study. Further quantitative research is needed to test the extent of the impact of these five themes on upscaling production capacity. In addition to production capacity, marketing and consumers' acceptance, culture and behaviour can also be considered in future studies.

This study makes a significant contribution to the literature by providing insight on the barriers to upscaling production capacity in the edible insect sector.