Rasch Model for Assessing Propensity to Entomophagy

Luca Iseppi, Marcella Rizzo, Enrico Gori, Federico Nassivera, Ivana Bassi and Alessandro Scuderi
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Luca Iseppi: Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
Marcella Rizzo: Department of Economics and Business, University of Catania, 95131 Catania, Italy
Enrico Gori: Department of Economic Science, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
Federico Nassivera: Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
Ivana Bassi: Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
Alessandro Scuderi: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environmental, University of Catania, 95131 Catania, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-21

Abstract: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations supports the production of edible insects as a promising and sustainable source of nutrients to meet the increasing demand for animal-derived products by the growing world population. Even if insects are part of the diet of more than two billion people worldwide, the practice of eating insects (entomophagy) raises challenging questions for Western countries where this is not a habit. The research applied the Rasch models and showed that, in the case of hunger or need, 70.8% of the sample declared that they would be willing to eat insects. The willingness to habitually consume and pay for insect food is very low, but the percentages are higher than people who had actually had insect tasting experiences. This demonstrates that a communication process is necessary that aims to overcome psychological/cultural barriers. Only in this way will it be possible to increase the propensity to consume insects.

Keywords: entomophagy; consumer behavior; Rasch models; cultural barriers; survey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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