Di Cairano Maria, Condelli Nicola, Lomonaco Angela, Galgano Fernanda
Department of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Science, University of Basilicata, Via dell'Ateneo Lucano 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy.
Foods. 2025 Jul 29;14(15):2664. doi: 10.3390/foods14152664.
Consumer perceptions of upcycled foods, as well as the determinants of food choices, are still not well understood. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of psychological and personal traits on purchase intention (PI) towards upcycled foods of Italian consumers. Additionally, willingness to try (WTT), willingness to buy (WTB), and willingness to pay (WTP) for yogurt, bread, and biscuits made with by-products, namely, hazelnut skin and grape pomace powder, were collected. A web-based survey involving 505 consumers was conducted, and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to evaluate the model. It resulted that food neophobia and attitude towards upcycled foods had a significant impact on PI. In turn, attitude was affected by food neophobia as well as by objective knowledge about food by-products. Unexpectedly, frugality and environmental concern did not affect PI. WTP was product-specific; when WTP was compared to a reference price, it was higher for the yogurt prototype, followed by the bread and biscuits prototypes. Food neophobia affected WTT, WTB, and WTP. This study contributes to providing new insights into the determinants of consumers' purchase intention for upcycled foods, which are an emerging category of products.
消费者对升级再造食品的认知以及食物选择的决定因素仍未得到充分理解。本研究的目的是评估心理和个人特质对意大利消费者购买升级再造食品意愿（PI）的影响。此外，还收集了消费者对用副产品（即榛子皮和葡萄柚渣粉）制作的酸奶、面包和饼干的尝试意愿（WTT）、购买意愿（WTB）和支付意愿（WTP）。开展了一项针对505名消费者的网络调查，并使用偏最小二乘结构方程模型（PLS-SEM）对模型进行评估。结果表明，食物新恐惧症和对升级再造食品的态度对购买意愿有显著影响。反过来，态度又受到食物新恐惧症以及关于食品副产品的客观知识的影响。出乎意料的是，节俭和环境关注度并未影响购买意愿。支付意愿因产品而异；将支付意愿与参考价格进行比较时，酸奶原型的支付意愿更高，其次是面包和饼干原型。食物新恐惧症影响了尝试意愿、购买意愿和支付意愿。本研究有助于为消费者购买升级再造食品意愿的决定因素提供新的见解，升级再造食品是一类新兴产品。
