The Effect of Novel and Environmentally Friendly Foods on Consumer Attitude and Behavior: A Value-Attitude-Behavioral Model.

Extreme weather conditions have intensified due to manufactured environmental damage in recent years. To reduce the environmental impact on the Earth, many consumers seek to change their dietary patterns to protect the environment and voluntarily switch to a vegetarian diet. Past studies have found that the transition from nonvegetarian to vegetarian is not easy, but promoting the consumption of alternative foods such as plant-based meat alternatives should help consumers gradually reduce their dependence on meat during the transition period of changing their eating habits. This study was designed to apply the value-attitude-behavior model (VAB) to study the consumption attitude and behavior of novel and environmentally friendly foods such as plant-based meat alternatives, and the novelty of plant-based meat alternatives was included as an intervening variable for discussion. In this study, 376 valid questionnaires were collected from college students in Taiwan, and the recovery rate of valid questionnaires was 94%. It was found from the analysis of results that perceptions of green value and animal welfare value had a significantly positive effect on attitude, while attitude and product knowledge also had a significant positive effect on behavior; however, the novelty of plant-based meat alternatives products did not have an interference effect on the relationship between product knowledge and behavior. Based on the research findings of this study, it is suggested that when introducing plant-based meat alternatives products, food companies should not only let consumers understand that they are based on environmental friendliness and animal welfare values but also enhance the marketing and promotion of product knowledge to increase consumers' confidence in purchasing plant-based meat alternatives and reduce their consumption concerns.

Consumers' Perception of Food and Agriculture Education in Farmers' Markets in Taiwan.

Following the trend of green product consumption, farmers' markets sell green products and have gradually developed the promotion of environmentally friendly knowledge of food and agricultural education. However, past research on farmers' markets has rarely been combined with the function of food and agricultural education. Therefore, this study explores the relationship between product knowledge, green perceived value, and purchase intention from the perspective of farmers' market food and agricultural education. Furthermore, research and investigation were conducted with trust and local attachment as multiplicative adjustment variables. This study adopted structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the structural relationship among local attachment, product knowledge, green perceived value, purchase intention, and model fit. We distributed 396 surveys at three large farmers' markets in Taiwan, of which 88.6% were used in this study. The research results showed that product knowledge and green perceived value had a significant positive impact on purchase intention; trust positively affected product knowledge and purchase intention; the multiplication of local attachment and trust also positively impacted product knowledge and purchase intention. Based on the research results of this study, it is suggested that while transferring knowledge, the farmers' markets can incorporate trust and emotional relationships, which will serve as stimulating factors that can increase consumers' purchase intentions. Although the findings are local to Taiwan, its characteristics are typical of food and agricultural education, as well as farmers' markets worldwide, especially in Asia.

The Impacts of Young Consumers' Health Values on Functional Beverages Purchase Intentions.

Internationally, there is increasing recognition of the importance of proper diet values and habits, a balanced intake of healthy food products, and rates of obesity control encompassing information on fat content and calories. In this context, some beverage manufacturers have shifted to marketing their products as having fewer calories and more functional benefits. This study aims to develop an extended value-attitude-behavior (VAB) research model that includes three constructs, namely, cue to action, self-efficacy, and health orientation, to explore the impacts of university students' health values on their purchase intentions concerning functional beverages. The results indicated that university students' interest in functional beverages was significantly affected by their health values. Besides, both interests in functional beverages and health orientation were significant predictors of purchase intention, while cue to action and self-efficacy were not. Based on these results, enhancing consumers' education about food security is suggested. Furthermore, the findings provide crucial insights for marketing channels, suggesting the beverage industry can target consumers' health values concerning health beverages as the key to purchase intention and attract business by developing practical marketing strategies.

Climate Change and Consumer's Attitude toward Insect Food.

Given the influence of rising environmental awareness, food systems and security are receiving increasing international attention. Previous studies have discussed the acceptance of insect foods but have been primarily conducted in a European context. Hence, their results cannot be applied to Taiwanese consumers. Regarding this, our study is centered on the theory of planned behavior and considers environmental concern and food neophobia to discuss the effects of consumer attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control on the purchase intention toward insect food. We used purposive sampling to survey questionnaire answers face-to-face in Taichung city, Taiwan. We distributed 408 surveys of which 77.45% were used in this study. The results revealed that consumer attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and food neophobia significantly influence purchase intention, whereas subjective norms and environmental concern did not demonstrate significant relationships with purchase intention. According to these results, we suggest that businesses emphasize consumers' product experience or reduce levels of food neophobia to increase consumer interest in insect foods and improve the acceptability of such foods, thereby increasing purchase intention.

The effects assessment of firm environmental strategy and customer environmental conscious on green product development.

The purpose of this study is to examine why both parties (industry and consumer market) have mutual interests in protecting the environment but they still are hesitant to act green. The study used two-stage sampling from consumer market to depict ideal green product characteristics and reliable toy companies, and visit these companies for the second sample collection to examine whether the organizational eco-innovation strategy with customer value has a positive effect on green product development. In other words, the customer's benefit is an important factor for new product development strategy for green toys. This research shows that the willingness to buy green toys increases if most people in society buy green toys. This represents that customers are environmentally conscious and care about protecting the environment, or buying green toys is the result of a new economic trend and childhood education. The willingness to buy green toys increases if customers think that green products implies an enhancement on new product development to toy manufacturers. Further, if manufacturers are able to manage the difficulty of cooperation with all parties in the supply chain and difficulties related to production, they are willing to adopt customers' perceived value on green toys for their new product development strategy. It is rare to find academic research discussing the perspectives of both consumers and manufacturers in the same study because the research topic is very broad and many conditions must be considered. This research aims to find the effect of consumer-perceived value and company eco-innovation on green product development.