Unpalatable solutions: Consumer resistance towards Insect-Based foods is moderated by uncertainty avoidance

Traditional livestock meat poses sustainability challenges, while insect proteins offer a low-impact alternative. Cultural barriers, such as uncertainty avoidance, hinder widespread acceptance of insect-based foods, despite a growing market. Research on consumer attitudes and purchase intentions towards insect-based foods yields mixed results, prompting a meta-analysis to explore cultural influences and contextual factors. This meta-analysis investigates consumers’ willingness to try insect-based food products. Analysis of 24 publications (97 studies, with 13,609 observations; participant Mage = 34.6), supports the notion that consumers around the world are not readily willing to adopt insect-based food products. Moderating this effect, at the country level, high uncertainty avoidance negatively affects consumers’ intentions to try insect-based products. Two follow-up studies replicate the findings of the meta-analysis, incorporating an individual-level assessment of the moderating effect of uncertainty avoidance, and testing the mediating effect of food neophobia on consumers’ (un)willingness to adopt insect-based food products. A third study provides evidence as how to buffer the negative reactions of consumers towards insect-based foods: after sensory evaluation of a cricket-flour nacho in a laboratory setting, participants were more willing to try it and generally evaluated the product and the experience more favorably, compared to their previously stated expectations. Theoretical contributions and practical implications for marketing strategy and communication, to overcome the negative perceptions related to insect-based food, along with limitations and future research directions, are discussed.