ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Nutrition and Sustainable Diets
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1577140
This article is part of the Research TopicSpaces for Sustainable Food Systems and Healthy DietsView all articles
Measuring the Benefits of Insect-Based Food among Chinese Consumers: A Mixed-Method Approach
Provisionally accepted
- 1Sichuan Tourism University, Chengdu, China
- 2Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR China
- 3University of Macau, Taipa, Macau Region, China
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Purpose -This study aimed to use a mixed-method approach to develop a comprehensive tool to measure the perceived benefits of consuming insect-based food.Design/methodology/approach -In the first step, the construct and item generation was developed by literature review and in-depth interviews, and 67 initial items were generated.In the second step, 41 items were evaluated and refined through expert reviews. The third step involved a pretest with 45 locals, followed by an exploratory factor analysis to validate the scale. In the fourth step, a pilot test was conducted with 200 residents to refine the scale items. Finally, data were collected from 1,089 Chinese consumers to further validate the reliability and validity of the scale.Findings -The results showed that insect-based food consumption benefits consisted of six dimensions (health, nutritional, taste and flavor, cultural, financial, and environmental value benefits). The overall structure demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity. The perceived benefits of insect-based food influence customers' attitudes, consumption values, and consumption intentions differently based on gender, age, and education level.Research implications -By exploring the benefits of consuming insect-based food, this study provides a specific measurement tool to help promote insect-based food consumption, enriching the existing literature in the food fields. Originality -To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to develop a measurement tool to measure the benefits of eating insect-based foods from a consumer perspective.
Keywords: Insect-based food, food systems, benefit, Appetite, sustainability
Received: 15 Feb 2025; Accepted: 02 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Kim, Choe and Wang. 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:
Yunyao Liu, Sichuan Tourism University, Chengdu, China
Sheng Peng Wang, Sichuan Tourism University, Chengdu, 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.