Tasty but Nasty? The Moderating Effect of Message Appeals on Food Neophilia/Neophobia as a Personality Trait: A Case Study of Pig Blood Cake and Meatballs

Abstract

Given the development of food tourism, food culture has become an important motivation for tourists. This study focuses on food tourism and examines the effects of message appeal and personality traits (food neophilia or neophobia) on tourists’ willingness to consume pig blood cake (PBC) and meatballs, two rice-based Taiwanese street foods. A total of 181 valid questionnaires were administered to foreign tourists in Taiwan (the majority of subjects were Europeans and Americans) through snowball sampling. The questionnaires were analysed using the AMOS 6.0 statistical software package. Foreign tourists’ food neophobia or neophilia was found to significantly affect their willingness to consume rice-based Taiwanese street food (PBC and meatballs) and to strongly regulate the effect of message appeal on their willingness to consume the two delicacies. Past studies on food neophobia/neophilia traits have mostly focused on Western and European foods and have rarely investigated the effect of message appeal on the consumption of traditional rice-based street food in Eastern Asia (e.g., Taiwanese special delicacies). This study’s most important contribution is that food neophilia or neophobia moderates the message appeal effect on foreign tourists’ intention to consume local delicacies. This finding has implications for the hospitality industry and relevant government agencies in Asia for the marketing and promotion of food tourism.

How Do Food Neophobia and Neophilia Moderate the Effect of Local Food Quality on Dining Satisfaction and Post-Dining Behavioral Intention in the Perspective of Sustainable Gastronomy Tourism?

“…It was found that FB or FL of foreign tourists strongly influenced their willingness to consume rice-based Taiwanese street food. The most significant finding of this specific study with the theme of local food is that FB or FL moderates the attraction effect of the message on the intention of foreign tourists to experience local flavors [52]. In another study, based on consumer choice value theory and the theory of planned behavior, the moderator effect of FB/FL behavior was also examined.…”

“…Another contribution of the research is related to the variables included in the model. Although the number has increased in recent years, there are very few studies that examine the food fear and food desire context of customers based on the tourism sector [52,70,76]. This paper provides empirical findings to fill the gap in the literature.…”

Attitudes of Young Tri-City Residents toward Game Meat. Development and Validation of a Scale for Identifying Attitudes toward Wild Meat

“…In addition, people over the age of 18 were often students, who make up a significant proportion of the population in the study region. On the other hand, the limit value, which was the age of 40, was considered final because, according to the research conducted by the Public Opinion Research Center in Poland, the average age begins after the age of 40 [32][33][34]. The authors wanted to conduct research using the PAPI method, which is why the nearest agglomeration, which is the Tri-City, was selected.…”