ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Cultural Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1653984
Tradition Meets Modernity: Understanding Consumer Psychology for TCM Functional Foods in Northern China Using Integrated Structural Equation and Agent-Based Modeling
Provisionally accepted
Zujian Zhao*
Lin Chen*- Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China
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The expanding market for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) functional foods presents a dynamic tension between deep-seated cultural heritage and contemporary consumer cognition. This study develops and validates an integrated theoretical framework using survey data from Northern China consumers. The research introduces and empirically validates a new construct, "Medicine-Food Separation Cognition" (MFSC), representing a modern, categorical mindset that emerges as a key cognitive barrier to market acceptance, particularly pronounced in urban environments. The findings establish Cultural Identity as a foundational driver of consumer affinity for these products, while demonstrating how contextual factors systematically influence cognitive schemas within the digital health ecosystem. By translating psychological insights into agent-based modeling, the study explores potential market-level consequences of individual-level factors. The integrated methodology offers both a theoretical tool (MFSC) and a replicable analytical framework for understanding culturally significant wellness markets. These findings provide actionable insights for developing segmented strategies in culturally embedded health product markets and informing regionally-tailored policies for sustainable consumption in Northern China and analogous settings.
Keywords: Cultural identity, Cognitive barriers, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Functional Foods, Consumer Psychology, purchase intention
Received: 26 Jun 2025; Accepted: 05 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhao and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zujian Zhao, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China
Lin Chen, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.