Faria Amy A, Kang Jiyun
Division of Consumer Science, The White Lodging-J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
Appetite. 2022 Jul 1;174:106008. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2022.106008. Epub 2022 Mar 25.
Food sustainability has been a growing focus in an attempt to limit climate change; as a result, the sustainable food market and an onset of social behaviors, such as shopping local and eating plant-based, is increasing. Limited however, is the understanding of how these sustainable food options are perceived among individuals who have different motivations for eating the way that they do. The situated identity enactment model and food neophobia literature are used to conceptualize the development of a model outlining how physical health, culture, and sustainability driven motivations of food patterns influence one's fear of sustainable food-moving beyond attitude as a suitable measurement in this context due to the complexity in the way select situational ques are cognitively processed. Data were collected among a representative U.S sample (n = 414) and analyzed through structural equation modeling using plant-based meat as the product of focus. Individuals whose food choices are culturally driven showed greater sustainable food neophobia and as motivations were more sustainability driven, the less fear they had of such foods. Contrary to what existing literature suggests, those driven by physical health showed no significance in the effects of their food patterns on neophobia even when considering a food option often positioned as healthier. Results also provided evidence of high local identity being a positive predictor of neophobia among those whose choices were culturally and sustainably driven. This study highlights the sensitivity of sustainable food and the importance of considering context, norms, and identity on food behaviors, regardless of one's underlying motives for food choices. Findings are influential in advancing social psychology literature on food behaviors and encourages the use of the model on other sustainable food products.
为了限制气候变化，食品可持续性一直是日益受到关注的焦点；因此，可持续食品市场以及诸如在本地购物和食用植物性食品等社会行为正在增加。然而，对于那些出于不同饮食动机的个人如何看待这些可持续食品选择，人们的了解还很有限。情境身份建构模型和食物新恐惧症文献被用来构思一个模型的发展，该模型概述了身体健康、文化和可持续性驱动的饮食模式动机如何影响一个人对可持续食品的恐惧——鉴于在认知处理特定情境线索的方式上存在复杂性，在这种情况下，超越态度作为一种合适的衡量标准。在美国一个具有代表性的样本（n = 414）中收集了数据，并以植物性肉类作为重点产品，通过结构方程模型进行分析。那些饮食选择受文化驱动的人表现出更大的可持续食品新恐惧症，并且随着动机更多地由可持续性驱动，他们对这类食品的恐惧就越少。与现有文献所表明的情况相反，那些受身体健康驱动的人，即使考虑到一种通常被认为更健康的食品选择，其饮食模式对新恐惧症的影响也没有显著意义。研究结果还表明，对于那些选择受文化和可持续性驱动的人来说，强烈的地方认同感是新恐惧症的一个积极预测因素。这项研究强调了可持续食品的敏感性以及在食品行为中考虑背景、规范和身份的重要性，无论一个人选择食物的潜在动机是什么。研究结果对于推进关于食品行为的社会心理学文献具有影响力，并鼓励将该模型应用于其他可持续食品产品。
