Do Consumers Perceive Cultivated Meat as a Sustainable Substitute to Conventional Meat? Assessing the Facilitators and Inhibitors of Cultivated Meat Acceptance

Wei Fu, Hongping Zhang (), Jeremy E. Whaley and Youn-Kyung Kim
Additional contact information
Wei Fu: Division of Social Science, Maryville College, Maryville, TN 37804, USA
Hongping Zhang: Department of Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Jeremy E. Whaley: Department of Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Youn-Kyung Kim: Department of Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-16

Abstract: Conventional meat production has become a force of environmental damage, but global meat consumption is predicted to continue increasing. Therefore, the technology of cultivated meat is undergoing rapid development. The current study explores what factors explain U.S. consumers’ intention to purchase cultivated meat as a sustainable substitute for conventional meat by applying a dual-factor model. A total of 410 completed responses were received from a nationwide survey. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the model and hypotheses. The results showed that physical health, animal welfare, and food quality significantly encouraged consumer acceptance of cultivated meat as a sustainable substitute for conventional meat. Food technology neophobia significantly inhibits the acceptance of cultivated meat, whereas unnaturalness did not show an impact on cultivated meat acceptance. Furthermore, the acceptance of cultivated meat as a sustainable substitute significantly enhanced consumers’ purchase intention. The findings inform practitioners about promoting cultivated meat in that marketers should emphasize the benefits of cultivated meat with health, animal welfare, food quality, and the environment. While technological language should be used carefully to avoid food technology neophobia, it is also essential to educate consumers on the science of cultivated meat in order for them to understand its benefits to sustainability.

Keywords: cultivated meat; consumer acceptance; sustainability; facilitator; inhibitor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11722/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11722/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11722-:d:1205916

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().