Vol. 13 No. 2 (2025): Business & Management Studies: An International Journal
Articles

Cultured meat neophobia: Understanding consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions toward an emerging food innovation

Nazlı Gamze Özel
PhD Candidate, Sakarya University Graduate School of Business, Sakarya, Türkiye, Research Assistant, Selçuk University, Akşehir Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Konya, Türkiye
Remzi Altunışık
Prof. Dr., Sakarya University, Sakarya, Türkiye

Published 2025-06-25

Keywords

  • Cultured Meat Neophobia, Consumer Attitude, Behavioral Intention, Social and Cultural Concerns, Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)
  • Kültür Eti Neofobisi, Tüketici Tutumu, Davranışsal Niyet, Sosyal ve Kültürel Kaygılar, Gerekçeli Eylem Teorisi (GET)

How to Cite

Cultured meat neophobia: Understanding consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions toward an emerging food innovation. (2025). Business & Management Studies: An International Journal, 13(2), 700-717. https://doi.org/10.15295/bmij.v13i2.2562

How to Cite

Cultured meat neophobia: Understanding consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions toward an emerging food innovation. (2025). Business & Management Studies: An International Journal, 13(2), 700-717. https://doi.org/10.15295/bmij.v13i2.2562

Abstract

This study examines the impact of cultured meat neophobia on Turkish consumers' attitudes and behavioral intentions, with a focus on understanding the barriers to the acceptance of innovative and sustainable food products. Data obtained from 278 participants were analyzed via partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) performed with SmartPLS. The results reveal that Turkish consumers exhibit cultured meat neophobia, driven by concerns about meat quality, health, safety, and economic factors, which negatively influence attitudes. However, ethical, social, and cultural concerns have no significant impact. Attitudes strongly influence behavioral intention and mediate the relationship between specific dimensions of neophobia and intention, while subjective norms independently affect intention. This study is the first to apply the cultured meat neophobia scale (Tsvakirai et al., 2023) in a different cultural context, offering novel theoretical and empirical insights within the framework of the Theory of Reasoned Action.

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