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Abstract

In order to enhance sales performance, it is very important to understand the motivation why consumers visit a restaurant. However, there is no research on motivation to visit edible insect restaurants. Thus, the purpose of this study is to assess the importance of such motivations in the context of an edible insect restaurant for the first time. First, the current study performed a principal components analysis in order to extract the motivation factors. The results showed that five factors were derived from 20 motivation items, which included (1) novel experience, (2) identity building, (3) sustainable source, (4) taste quality, and (5) nutritional value. In addition, the results from the structural equation modeling revealed that the four sub-dimensions of motivation except for identity building positively affect attitude. Lastly, the data analysis results indicated that attitude increased the intentions to visit and word-of-mouth intentions. The theoretical and managerial implications are presented in the latter part of this study, which are based on the statistical results.

Keywords

attitude insect intentions to visit motivation word-of-mouth intentions

Introduction

The world’s population is expected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050, which is a dramatic increase of 2 billion from now (United Nations, 2019). On the other hand, agriculturally viable land is already insufficient, and the oceans are suffering from climate change, pollution, overfishing, and the loss of marine species (Sciencing, 2017). In consideration of the greater demand of food due to the increasing global population and the limited and the decreased availability of resources for food production, numerous scholars have warned about a shortage of food in due time, and they have addressed the needs for new food sources, such as insects (Baker et al., 2016; Fogliano, 2017; Sogari, 2015; van Huis et al., 2013). The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which will hereinafter be referred to as FAO, promoted edible insects in order to cope with world hunger (van Huis et al., 2013).

Entomophagy, which is the human consumption of insects, was first introduced in Bodenheimer’s (1951) book Insects as human food, which presents the people’s perception of insects as food. Insects as a human food have a tremendous amount of historical references. Insects were utilized as condiments and specialized cuisine in various ways, and they appeared to be common to some extent all over the world (Kohl, 2016; Meyer-Rochow, 2010). More than two billion people in the world are estimated to consume insects as a regular part of their diets (van Huis et al., 2013), and several reports presented a favorable prospect that the global market volume of edible insects will constantly grow (Mancini et al., 2022). Insects are high in nutrition, low in cost, ecological, and tasty, and edible insects have accordingly gained an increasing amount of attention as a future food source (Hwang et al., 2020). The consumption of edible insects by humans has not been completely welcomed in some of the western countries, but western society has begun to generally consider insects as a food source (van Huis et al., 2021; Woolf et al., 2019).

Edible insects have drawn people’s attention, so some of the entrepreneurs have untapped this opportunity in the restaurant industry. Restaurants are opening and are specifically offering menu items that feature insect-containing foods, and these restaurants are called edible insect restaurants (Ali & Ali, 2022; Choe et al., 2020). Restaurants are normally categorized by price, ambiance, and the type of service (WebstaurantStore, 2018). For example, restaurants can be divided into quick service restaurants, casual dining restaurants, and fine dining restaurants, but they can also be distinguished by specialized cuisine, such as ethnic cuisine, pizzerias, and steakhouses. In light of the growing attention to edible insects, which is supported by academia and international organizations, such as the United Nations, more restaurants that specialize in edible insects are entering into the food service industry across the world (Choe et al., 2020; R. Han et al., 2017; Hwang et al., 2020). Today, an edible insect restaurant can be found in any part of the world, which include Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and North America.

There are many reasons why the consumers visit new restaurants, which provide an opportunity to experience a different culture, relax in other forms of the environment, and enjoy novel food (S. Y. Jang et al., 2019). Therefore, when a new type of restaurant is launched, it is very important to identify the motivation why consumers visit that type of restaurant (Shin et al., 2019). More importantly, motivation plays an important role in order to achieve consumer goals as internal and external factors, which lead to behavioral intentions (Gomez-Rico et al., 2022; Jia, 2020). This means that understanding the consumers’ motivation with a new type of restaurant would provide the answers why consumers visit the new restaurant. The scholars should therefore endeavor to identify the motivations toward visiting unique restaurants, such as ethnic restaurants (S. Y. Jang et al., 2019). However, the motivations behind visiting restaurants that are specialized in edible insect are seldom explored in great depth.

The food service industry began to utilize edible insects as a creative ingredient and food source in order to specialize the restaurant’s concepts and the menu, which was previously explained. The extant studies that pertain to this phenomenon largely deal with the values of edible insects or the challenges and risks that are associated with the consumer acceptance of edible insects (Ali & Ali, 2022; R. Han et al., 2017; Sogari, 2015). In other words, an edible insect restaurant is the least studied from the customers’ perspective by far. Recognizing the challenges of the food demand-supply chain and the diversity in regards to the needs of the customers and the restaurants’ type of business, this study was developed according to an exploratory research design in order to probe the following research questions toward a specialized restaurant that offers edible insects.

RQ1: What are the underlying dimensions of the motivation to visit an edible insect restaurant?

RQ2: Does the motivation influence the attitude toward visiting an edible insect restaurant?

RQ3: What influence would attitude toward visiting an edible insect restaurant have on the customers’ intentions to visit and word-of-mouth intentions?

The rest of this paper was designed to answer the above research questions, which is structured as follows. The literature review section articulates the existing literature in support of the theoretical research model and the hypotheses development. Each study construct, which include motivation, attitude, and behavioral intentions, are delineated clearly. We also explain how the constructs are related in our study context. The next section, which is the methodology, describes the details of the quantitative method, which include the measurements and the data collection. The data analysis section then summarizes the results that were obtained from all the analyses and the hypotheses testing. The next section offers discussions that are based on the results of the hypotheses, which involve the contributions to the best of our knowledge. We then present the implications in the theory and practices that are worthy of consideration. The last section addresses the limitations and extensions of the study. This research provides a clear understanding of the business potential of an edible insect restaurant via the customers’ motivational factors in order to predict their restaurant selection behavior and offer insightful implications especially to the practitioners operating an edible insect restaurant, which is based on the course of study and the results.

Literature Review

Edible Insects and an Edible Insect Restaurant

Many studies were conducted in order to explore the numerous benefits from edible insects (Durst & Shono, 2010; R. Han et al., 2017). The superior nutrient content of edible insects was stressed throughout the results of numerous experiments, which edible insects specifically represented wealthy sources of nutrition for the human diet, and they are in particular vital sources of protein, fat, amino acids, minerals, and vitamins (R. Han et al., 2017; van Huis et al., 2021). Also, edible insects, particularly crickets, are loved, because they provide an excellent crunchy texture, and they are rich in amino acids that easily break down in human bodies (Magara et al., 2021). In addition, edible insects offer substantial benefits in regards to their environmental footprint (Hwang et al., 2020). This is because insects are extremely efficient with converting their intake into tissues that can be consumed by others, which are cultivated with a lower environmental cost of farming, such as a reduced space requirement compared to livestock (Durst & Shono, 2010). Furthermore, edible insects provide considerable relief for climate change that is imposed by traditional livestock.

These values of edible insects are compelling reasons to try insect-containing foods. Menozzi et al. (2017) specifically identified that once Italians establish the perception of insects, which are ecologically produced, they are likely to consume products that contain insects. Meanwhile, the scholars underlined that curiosity is an important reason to choose insect-based foods (House, 2016; Sogari et al., 2017). Ryu et al. (2017) explored the factors that affect the decision to try insect-based cookies, and their results indicated the salient role of the variety of cookies, which is due to the consumers’ general variety-seeking tendency. This implies that people appreciate new products that provide more options. In the meantime, taste and nutritional value are generally regarded as the most important cues in regards to the food purchasing behavior (Cicatiello et al., 2016), which also applies in the case of edible insects (R. Han et al., 2017; Shin et al., 2019). Likewise, van Huis et al. (2021) suggested a strategy to increase the acceptance of edible insects by targeting consumers who are health-conscious, environmentally conscious, and seek exciting, new, and novel experiences with their food selection.

The aforementioned sizable consumption and considerable benefits of edible insects has led to an increased interest in the field of the food service industry. The pioneers of edible insect restaurants are found across many regions (Choe et al., 2020; Hwang et al., 2020). For example, flower pizza, pasta with mealworms, white-spotted chafer larva, and grasshoppers are served in a restaurant called Flora Umi Chukumi and Pappilon’s Kitchen. Also, traditional dishes, such as Bibimbap that uses edible insects are offered at the restaurant DOSA in Seoul, South Korea (R. Han et al., 2017). More restaurants will attempt to introduce this forward thinking idea in regards to a novel food source and advance in order to integrate insects into their specialty food ingredients.

Motivation

Motivation refers to “the driving forces within the individuals that impel them to action” (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2004, p. 87). Similarly, motivation was defined as a set of internal psychological needs that lead an individual to act in a certain way or stimulate his or her interest (Fodness, 1994). Thus, the motivation to visit an edible insect restaurant can be described as the forces within an individual that induce a person to visit restaurants that specialize in edible insects.

In the era of many different styles of cuisines and restaurant concepts, the research of the motivations for eating out have been conducted with a focus on the specific types of foods, class, or service that the restaurants provide. For example, S. Y. Jang et al. (2019) analyzed 308 responses from the customers dining at ethnic restaurants, and they confirmed five motivation factors, which include novelty, learning and culture, general restaurant attributes, sensory appeal, health concern, and change and escape that influence the intentions to visit ethnic restaurants. Kiatkawsin and Han (2019) articulated that the involvement and knowledge of gastronomy are the determining factors for the customers to choose luxury restaurants, which they defined Michelin-starred restaurants. Shin et al. (2019) used 473 pieces of data from the people in the U.S. for an empirical analysis in order to examine the underlying motivations to visit a restaurant that provides organic food, and they derived that environmental concern, social value, and health consciousness are the critical motivational factors. Gomez-Rico et al. (2022) explored the motivational forces of a creative food tourism experience, and they found the significant role of the internal stimuli, such as emotional, cultural, and social motivations. Ali and Ali (2022) determined that people who love new experiences have more chances to visit unconventional restaurants, such as edible insect restaurants.

Meanwhile, some other studies were subject to a particular market or different customer segments and dining purposes (Fogliano, 2017; Y. G. Kim & Eves, 2012). Cullen and Kingston (2009) explored the consumer behavior toward novel food products that incorporated a food-related lifestyle (FRL) instrument. They evaluated consumer behavior via a consumer profile, which included hedonistic, adventurous, and conservative food consumers in rural and urban segments. Y. G. Kim and Eves (2012) investigated the underlying motivational dimensions from the perspective of tourists in order to explore local food, and they identified the interpersonal relation, excitement, sensory appeal, and health concern as five sub-dimensions. Fogliano (2017) conducted an empirical study in order to identify the food choice motives of Dutch consumers. The author examined 14 types of motivations that were focused on edible insects, which were based on a Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ). They presented that the sensory quality and nutritional values are important motivations. Jia (2020) observed that the motivation factors toward restaurants differ according to individuals with dissimilar cultures. The author specifically identified that Chinese consumers are strongly fascinated by the food itself, whereas American consumers are driven by fun-seeking. All of the above-mentioned literature examples imply that the underlying motivations to visit a restaurant vary depending on various factors and suggest that more research on motivation needs to concentrate on a particular subject.

By integrating the theoretical backgrounds in the field of entomophagy and the customer motivation to visit restaurants that are specialized in a particular cuisine, such as an ethnic restaurant, this present study proposed the five facets of motivation to visit an edible insect restaurant, which include novel experience, identity building, sustainable source, taste quality, and nutritional value.

First, insects are becoming popular as a novelty food and are treated as a way to satisfy exotic palates (Kohl, 2016), so novel experience was posited as one of the crucial motivations to visit an edible insect restaurant. Otis (1984) indicated that trying new foods reflects an individual’s general interest and preference to engage in an exciting experience. Also, Pizam et al. (2004) asserted that excitement is the most important driver in regards to adventurous food and dining experiences. Both Scarpato (2002) and Hjalager (2003) recognized that some individuals travel long hours in order to taste exotic fruits or the local food is referred to as gastronomy, and these activities are regarded as an escape from a routine dining out experience and eating habits in their daily lives. Sogari (2015) investigated the determining factors in regards to motivating the consumption of edible insects that involve Italian individuals, and the results revealed that curiosity (42%) is a strong motivation to consume insects. It is also inferred that a motivation to taste foreign or unfamiliar foods may come from the motives of novel experiences. House (2016) conducted in-depth interviews with 33 Dutch customers. The participants stated that they are motivated to try edible insects, because they would introduce novelty into their diets. Trying novel food creates novel experiences, which means that experiencing an edible insect restaurant involves the customer undergoing a novel experience.

Second, food choice is regarded as a way to differentiate him/herself from others, which is generally shaped by ideals and social relations (Costa et al., 2014). You are what you eat is a famous phrase that is used in order to explain that the food choice is considered as an expression of a persons’ integral expression in regards to who they are and what they believe in (Willetts, 1997). In other words, people use a food selection in order to signify and distinguish themselves from others, and their choice of food or a certain diet is related to an individual’s identity, image, and social status (Fox & Ward, 2008). Fox and Ward (2008) used a qualitative analysis in order to explore ethical vegetarianism, and they argued that a dietary choice is embodied in an individuals’ identity. Allom and Mullan (2012) articulated that the healthy eating identity enables us to understand the customers’ motivations and predict their dietary intake. Blake et al. (2013) examined the data that was collected from 903 household food shoppers, and they categorized the customers into four types of eating identities, which included healthy, emotional, meat, and picky in order to predict their dietary behaviors. Fogliano (2017) asserted that people use their self-definition by choosing a certain diet and considered identity building as an extra dimension of customer motivation in the field of edible insects. In the domain of edible insect restaurants, cultural identity should also be considered because cultural background plays an important role in consumer acceptance of edible insects (Hurd et al., 2019). Therefore, visiting an edible insect restaurant would be rooted from the motivation to build an identity.

Third, edible insects are considered healthy for the planet. Insects provide significant advantages for food production, so the sustainability aspects of entomophagy have been widely addressed (R. Han et al., 2017; Hwang et al., 2020). Edible insects appear to be valuable sources that can replace traditional livestock, which are based on high fecundity rates with year-round breeding, high conversion rates, and low greenhouse gas emissions (Yi et al., 2013). Moreover, insects contribute to how they are produced as well as contribute to the recycling of animal waste (Mitsuhashi, 2010). Leijdekkers (2016) presented the moral obligations with respect to environmental concerns as one determinant in order to predict the customers’ behavioral intention regarding food choices. Food itself contributes to embracing pro-environmental practices in the field of restaurants (Kwok et al., 2016), and natural ingredients and eco-friendly perspective were highlighted as the upcoming trends of the culinary concepts for the year 2019 (National Restaurant Association, 2019). In this regard, a sustainable source that is related to an environmental concern was described as a strong motivation to visit a certain type of restaurant (Hu et al., 2010; Shin et al., 2019). R. Han et al. (2017) asserted that an edible insect restaurant can build competitive advantages over its competitors from an ecological aspect. Hence, a sustainable source was identified as an essential motivation in order to visit an edible insect restaurant.

Fourth, people choose a certain food simply because it tastes good (Sijtsema et al., 2012), and taste has been a vital consideration for more people in every food and beverage settings (Y. G. Kim & Eves, 2012). In other words, flavor is considered to be an important criterion for food consumption, and the customers choose food that they evaluate as tasty (Pollard et al., 1998). Edible insects are known for their great taste and wonderful flavor, which also includes a crispy texture (House, 2016; Magara et al., 2021; Woolf et al., 2021). For example, 70% of people in the city of Kinshasa responded that they consume mopane caterpillars because of their nutritional value as well as the taste (van Huis et al., 2013). Certain insects are regarded as delicacies, and some edible insects are considered as luxuries, which is due to their superior taste quality (Tan et al., 2016). Deroy et al. (2015) asserted that taste is a distinctive and significant attribute of insect-based foods. From the results of House’s (2016) empirical study, a third of the participants evaluated the high level of taste of edible insects and showed a tendency to consume them again. Therefore, it is expected that the customers would visit an edible insect restaurant with respect to appreciating the great taste of edible insects.

Fifth, the nutrient profiles of edible insects are regarded as being valuable from the point of the daily requirements of human health and diet (Kohl, 2016; van Huis et al., 2013). They are known for their high nutritional values especially with regard to energy, protein, amino acid, fat, fiber, minerals, and vitamins (van Huis et al., 2021). Edible insects are a rich source of nutrition, so their nutritional value has been one of the most compelling facts that support entomophagy (Magara et al., 2021). The customers’ health concerns that are related to the nutritional benefits that the restaurant offered was frequently verified as one of the vital motivational factors in the empirical studies (Frash et al., 2015; S. Y. Jang et al., 2019; Shin et al., 2019). For example, Y. J. Jang et al. (2011) surveyed 322 millennials in the U.S. and presented more positive behavioral intentions toward a green restaurant, which is specialized in natural and organic food sources and provides nutritional menu items. Several experiments confirmed the high nutrient profiles of edible insects, and the extant studies verified nutritional value as key in order to determine motivation, so we identified nutritional value as one of the key motivational factors for the customers to visit an edible insect restaurant.

Effect of Motivation to Visit an Edible Insect Restaurant on Attitude Toward Visiting an Edible Insect Restaurant

Attitude refers to “the degree that a person has a favorable or unfavorable evaluation or appraisal of the behavior in question” (Ajzen, 1991, p. 188). A lot of research has supported the significant association between motivation and attitude in the food service industry (de Boer et al., 2007; Rankin et al., 2018). For instance, de Boer et al. (2007) conducted an empirical study in order to understand sustainable food choices with motivational factors that incorporate involvement, and they uncovered the salient impact of motivations on value-related and taste-related attitudes. T. H. Kim et al. (2010) studied the motivation of the customers’ coffee consumption using 278 pieces of data that were collected in South Korea, and they found that the customers’ hedonic and ostentation motivations had a positive effect on the attitude toward a specific coffee brand. In the research by Birch et al. (2018), the consumers’ present day food consumption was described as more mindful in regards to making a balance between egoistic and altruistic motivation. Furthermore, their analysis results, which used 677 pieces of data that were collected from Australian consumers, discovered that egoistic and altruistic motivations, such as ethical identity have an impact on the consumers’ attitudes toward local food consumption. Rankin et al. (2018) conducted a survey in nine EU countries, and the results of the analysis indicated that four underlying food choice motivations, which included weight control, mood, health, and ethical concern, influenced the attitude toward the adoption of personalized nutrition.

In addition, a significant relationship between motivation and attitude was also confirmed in other industries. For example, Gnoth (1997) proposed the Expectation, Motivation, and Attitude (EMA) model, which articulated the impact of four motivational factors, which included knowledge, relaxation, novelty, and shopping, on the customers’ attitude in the field of tourism. Wang et al. (2011) examined the interrelationship between the motivation and attitude toward luxury brands, which was based on a survey that was conducted with 473 Chinese participants. They identified six underlying motivations in regards to purchasing luxury products, and their results indicated a positive effect of motivations on the consumers’ attitude toward luxury brands. Wong et al. (2013) studied the influence of HK outbound travelers’ motivation on their attitude using 137 pieces of data that were collected. They derived that knowledge, excitement, relaxation, friends and family, and shopping as the determining motivational factors of the travelers, and they presented the direct effect of these identified motivations except for friends and family on the attitude toward visiting oversea destinations. It would be meaningful to underpin the motivation that leads to the customers’ positive attitude toward visiting an edible insect restaurant based on the extant literature. Accordingly, this study postulated the significant association between motivation and attitude.

H1: The motivation to visit an edible insect restaurant positively affects the attitude toward visiting an edible insect restaurant.

Effect of Attitude Toward Visiting an Edible Insect Restaurant on Behavioral Intentions

Oliver (1997) conceptualized behavioral intentions as the likelihood of an individual’s engagement with a specific behavior and a lot of research identified that a strong association exists between attitude and the customers’ behavioral intentions (Hsu et al., 2016; Teng et al., 2014). The previous studies suggested the following two sub-dimensions of behavioral intentions either individually or collectively, which include the intentions to visit and word-of-mouth intentions (Hwang et al., 2019; J. J. Kim & Hwang, 2020; J. J. Kim et al., 2019; Liu & Lee, 2016). The concept of the intentions to visit can be defined as “the degree to which a person has formulated conscious plans to perform or not perform some specified future behavior” (Warshaw & Davis, 1985, p. 214). The term of word-of-mouth refers to “informal, person to person communication between a perceived noncommercial communicator and a receiver regarding a brand, a product, an organization or a service” (Harrison-Walker, 2001, p. 63), and the word-of-mouth intentions indicate the willingness of positive word of mouth communication. Understanding the customers’ visit intention is important for the practitioners to develop effective marketing strategies (I. Kim & Kim, 2021; J. J. Kim et al., 2020; Lu & Gursoy, 2017), and word-of-mouth plays a particularly essential role for the service organizations (Jalilvand & Samiei, 2012). As a result, this study adopted both the intentions to visit and the word-of-mouth intentions as the sub-dimensions of behavioral intentions.

In addition, many of the prior studies verified the effect of attitude on behavioral intentions. For instance, Phillips et al. (2013) investigated the US customers’ intention to try novel foods, and their analysis results revealed that the attitude toward the novel foods increased the intentions to try new food. Teng et al. (2014) examined the customer’s behavioral intention to patron green restaurants, which was based on the value-attitude-behavioral (VAB) model. They gathered the data from 254 Taiwanese customers for an empirical analysis, and they articulated that the consumers’ behavioral intentions were strongly affected by attitude. Siegrist et al. (2015) tested the consumers’ acceptance of functional foods and beverages, which are defined as healthy items using 945 pieces of data that were collected in Germany and China. They measured the attitude toward functional foods with food neophobia, and their results showed a negative impact on the acceptance of functional foods in China but not in Germany. Hsu et al. (2016) analyzed 252 samples that were collected in Taiwan, and they found strong associations between the attitude toward organic food and purchase intentions. Also, some scholars documented the close link between attitude and the intentions and/or behavior toward eating insect-based food (Menozzi et al., 2017; Verneau et al., 2016). The above mentioned studies suggested that the attitude toward visiting an edible insect restaurant plays an important role in order to induce the customers’ behavioral intentions. As a result, this study proposes the following hypotheses.

H2: Attitude toward visiting an edible insect restaurant positively affects intentions to visit.

H3: Attitude toward visiting an edible insect restaurant positively affects word-of-mouth intentions.

Proposed Conceptual Model

The proposed conceptual model is displayed in Figure 1, which is based on the extant studies.

Figure 1.

Proposed conceptual model.

Methodology

Measurement

All the measurement items were cited from the previous studies, and they were used after modifying them to fit in the field of an edible insect restaurant. First, motivation was measured using 20 measurement items that were used by Balzan et al. (2016), Fogliano (2017), Fotopoulos et al. (2009), and Y. G. Kim and Eves (2012). Second, attitudes were measured using three measurement items that were employed by H. Han and Hyun (2018) and Hwang et al. (2019). Third, intentions to visit were measured using three items that were adapted from Zeithaml et al. (1996) and Chua et al. (2019). Lastly, three measurement items for word-of-mouth intentions were cited from Hennig-Thurau et al. (2002) and Hwang and Lee (2019).

The initial version of the questionnaire was developed based on the above measurement items using a seven-point Likert’s scale, which ranged from (1) strongly disagree to (7) strongly agree. In order to verify the content validity, the following three groups carefully reviewed the questionnaire, which included (1) two professors from the department of restaurant management, (2) three graduate students with experience in restaurant management, and (3) two employees that are currently working in the food service industry. The review of the above groups confirmed that there is no problem with the content validity.

Data Collection

In South Korea, edible insect restaurants have not yet been completely activated, so the respondents’ understanding of this type of restaurant is abundant. In order to solve this problem, the respondents were asked to participate in the survey after reading two news articles and watching one video that is related to an edible insect restaurant. For this reason, there was no initial screening of the questionnaire. The news articles explained the current situations of the edible insect market and the importance of edible insects for environmental protection. Additionally, the video explained how to cook food using insects and an insect restaurant’s operating system. In order to collect data for the current study, a market research company was used in South Korea. An email invitation was sent to 6,479 panels using a web-based survey. Four hundred fifty among them responded to the survey, which there was no missing data. The response rate was 6.69%. Additionally, 16 samples were deleted via visual inspection and a Mahalanobis distance check. More specifically, five samples that were marked with the same number for all the questions were excluded. In addition, after calculating the Mahalanobis distance via the linear regression option in SPSS, 11 samples were deleted.

Data Analysis

Demographic Profile of the Samples

Table 1 provides the demographic profile of the samples. From the sample of 434 respondents, 50.5% (n = 219) are male, and 49.5% (n = 215) are female. In addition, the largest group was in their 30s (n = 149, 34.3%), and the mean age was 38.14 years. With regards to their monthly household income, 29.5% of the respondents (n = 128) showed an income between US $1,001-US $2,000. In terms of the marital status, 52.8% of the respondents (n = 229) were married. Lastly, 56.0% of the respondents (n = 243) hold a bachelor’s degree in regards to their education level.

Table 1.

Demographic Profile of the Samples (n = 434).

Variable	n	Percentage
Gender
Male	219	50.5
Female	215	49.5
Age
20s	103	23.7
30s	149	34.3
40s	102	23.5
50s	80	18.4
Mean age = 38.14 years old
Monthly household income
US $6,001 and over	16	3.7
US $5,001–US $6,000	24	5.5
US $4,001–US $5,000	41	9.4
US $3,001–US $4,000	61	14.1
US $2,001–US $3,000	121	27.9
US $1,001–US $2,000	128	29.5
Under US $1,000	43	9.9
Marital status
Single	200	46.1
Married	229	52.8
Widowed/Divorced	5	1.2
Education Level
Less than high school diploma	62	14.3
Associate’s degree	76	17.5
Bachelor’s degree	243	56.0
Graduate degree	53	12.2

Principal Components Analysis

A principal components analysis was performed in order to identify the dimensions of the motivation scale in the context of an edible insect restaurant, which is illustrated in Table 2. The adequacy of the factor analysis was confirmed by using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO = 0.914) measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett’s test of sphericity (p < .001). In addition, the convergent validity was also verified, because all the measurement items exceeded 0.50 of the standardized factor loadings, which was suggested by Anderson and Gerbing (1988). The reliability was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha values. They were higher than the recommended level of 0.70, which ranged from 0.882 to 0.940 (Nunnaly, 1978). Five factors were derived from 20 motivation items, which explained 81.454% of the variance. Each of the five factors was named based on literature and the characteristics of its composing variables, which included (1) novel experience (eigenvalue = 3.462 and explained variance = 17.310%), (2) identity building (eigenvalue = 3.444 and explained variance = 17.219%), (3) sustainable source (eigenvalue = 3.284 and explained variance = 16.421%), (4) taste quality (eigenvalue = 3.169 and explained variance = 15.843%), and (5) nutritional value (eigenvalue = 2.932 and explained variance = 14.660%).

Table 2.

Principal Components Analysis for Motivation of an Edible Insect Restaurant.

Variables	Standardized factor loadings	Eigenvalue	Explained variance	Cronbach’s alpha
Novel experience		3.462	17.310	.940
An edible insect restaurant seems to provide new tastes. (NE1)	0.884
An edible insect restaurant seems to allow me to discover new kind of food. (NE2)	0.880
An edible insect restaurant seems to enable me to learn what edible insects taste like. (NE3)	0.861
Experiencing an edible insect restaurant seems to intellectually enrich me in regards to food. (NE4)	0.808
Identity building		3.444	17.219	.934
I believe that the foods that are served at an edible insect restaurant seem to be the future of food. (IB1)	0.864
Experiencing an edible insect restaurant seems to be in line with my beliefs. (IB2)	0.861
Experiencing an edible insect restaurant seems to help me to distinguish myself from others. (IB3)	0.836
Experiencing an edible insect restaurant seems to help me to draw attention from others, such as gaining in regards to social media attention. (IB4)	0.780
Sustainable source		3.284	16.421	.938
An edible insect restaurant seems to provide foods from ingredients that are environmentally friendly. (SS1)	0.858
The main ingredients of the foods that are served at an edible insect restaurant seem to be produced in a sustainable way. (SS2)	0.817
The foods that are served at an edible insect restaurant seem to be great sustainable alternatives to meat, which is quite demanding on the environment. (SS3)	0.796
The foods that are served at an edible insect restaurant seem to be potential solutions to many of the environmental challenges that are imposed by livestock. (SS4)	0.793
Taste quality		3.169	15.843	.896
The foods that are served at an edible insect restaurant seem to be delicious. (TQ1)	0.831
The foods that are served at an edible insect restaurant seem to have wonderful flavors. (TQ2)	0.822
The foods that are served at an edible insect restaurant seem to have a variety of textures, such as being crispy or crunchy. (TQ3)	0.779
The taste of the foods that are served at an edible insect restaurant seem to be diverse. (TQ4)	0.750
Nutritional value		2.932	14.660	.882
The foods that are served at an edible insect restaurant seem to be nutritious. (NV1)	0.846
The foods that are served at an edible insect restaurant seem to contain healthy ingredients. (NV2)	0.810
The foods that are served at an edible insect restaurant seem to provide the essential nutrients, such as protein, fiber, and vitamins intake in the human diet. (NV3)	0.780
Dining in an edible insect restaurant seems to keep me healthy. (NV4)	0.681

Source. Balzan et al. (2016), Fogliano (2017), Fotopoulos et al. (2009), Y. G. Kim and Eves (2012).

Note. Total explained variance = 81.454%, KMO measure of sampling adequacy = 0.914, and Bartlett’s test of sphericity (p < .001).

In addition, the result of the PCA scree plot is presented in Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Results of PCA scree plot.

Proposed Model Revision

By extracting the five factors from the motivation to visit an edible insect restaurant, the proposed model was revised, which is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3.

Proposed model revision.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis

The measurement model was evaluated to test whether the utilized multi-measurement items for each latent construct were internally consistent and to check whether the construct validity was well established, which is illustrated in Table 3. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the model fit the data well (Goodness-of-fit statistics: χ² = 1014.323, df = 349, χ²/df = 2.906, p < .001, NFI = 0.927, IFI = 0.951, CFI = 0.950, TLI = 0.942, and RMSEA = 0.066) (Byrne, 2001). The factor loadings were equal to or greater than 0.704, and all the factor loadings were significant at p < .001.

Table 3.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis: Items and Loadings.

Construct and scale item (mean and standard deviation)	Standardized loading^a
Novel experience (4.77 and 0.98)
NE1	0.907
NE2	0.915
NE3	0.912
NE4	0.841
Identity building (4.61 and 0.91)
IB1	0.892
IB2	0.901
IB3	0.874
IB4	0.866
Sustainable source (4.64 and 0.94)
SS1	0.913
SS2	0.925
SS3	0.848
SS4	0.879
Taste quality (4.16 and 0.92)
TQ1	0.911
TQ2	0.904
TQ3	0.766
TQ4	0.707
Nutritional value (4.02 and 0.99)
NV1	0.830
NV2	0.704
NV3	0.899
NV4	0.806
Attitudes (4.10 and 1.45)
Unfavorable—Favorable	0.922
Bad—Good	0.880
Negative—Positive	0.923
Intentions to visit (3.71 and 1.39)
I will dine out at an edible insect restaurant.	0.949
I am willing to dine out at an edible insect restaurant.	0.957
I am likely to dine out at an edible insect restaurant.	0.966
Word-of-mouth intentions (3.81 and 1.26)
I am likely to say positive things about an edible insect restaurant to others.	0.879
I am likely to recommend an edible insect restaurant to others.	0.981
I am likely to encourage others to dine out at an edible insect restaurant.	0.934
Goodness-of-fit statistics: χ² = 1014.323, df = 349, χ²/df = 2.906, p < .001, NFI = 0.927, IFI = 0.951, CFI = 0.950, TLI = 0.942, and RMSEA = 0.066

Source. Balzan et al. (2016), Chua et al. (2019), Fogliano (2017), Fotopoulos et al. (2009), H. Han and Hyun (2018), Hennig-Thurau et al. (2002), Hwang and Lee (2019), Hwang et al. (2019), Y. G. Kim and Eves (2012), Zeithaml et al. (1996).

Note. NFI = Normed Fit Index; IFI = Incremental Fit Index; CFI = Comparative Fit Index; TLI = Tucker-Lewis Index; and RMSEA = Root Mean Square Error of Approximation.

All factors loadings are significant at p < .001.

As shown in Table 4, all the composite reliability values fell between 0.885 and 0.980, which suggested a high level of reliability for the construct measures in this study. In addition, convergent validity was verified, because all the values of AVE for all of the constructs, which ranged from 0.661 to 0.917, were higher than the widely accepted cutoff of 0.50 (Hair et al., 2006). Lastly, discriminant validity was also well established, because the AVE values were higher than the squared correlation between a pair of constructs (Fornell & Larcker, 1981).

Table 4.

Descriptive Statistics and Associated Measures.

	No. of items	Mean (SD)	AVE	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)
(1) Novel experience	4	4.77 (0.98)	0.800	0.941^a	0.466^b	0.508	0.438	0.443	0.463	0.385	0.392
(2) Identity building	4	4.61 (0.91)	0.780	0.217^c	0.934	0.676	0.433	0.414	0.404	0.415	0.420
(3) Sustainable source	4	4.64 (0.94)	0.795	0.258	0.457	0.939	0.490	0.505	0.514	0.465	0.524
(4) Taste quality	4	4.16 (0.92)	0.683	0.192	0.187	0.240	0.895	0.678	0.652	0.631	0.610
(5) Nutritional value	3	4.02 (0.99)	0.661	0.196	0.171	0.255	0.460	0.885	0.664	0.637	0.563
(6) Attitude	3	4.10 (1.45)	0.825	0.214	0.163	0.264	0.425	0.441	0.934	0.831	0.718
(7) Intentions to visit	3	3.71 (1.39)	0.917	0.148	0.172	0.216	0.398	0.406	0.691	0.980	0.817
(8) Word-of-mouth intentions	3	3.82 (1.26)	0.869	0.154	0.176	0.275	0.372	0.317	0.516	0.667	0.952

Note. SD = Standard Deviation; AVE = Average Variance Extracted

Composite reliabilities are along the diagonal.

Correlations are above the diagonal.

Squared correlations are below the diagonal

Structural Equation Modeling

The proposed model with eight constructs was assessed using a structural equation modeling analysis. The fit indices, which were provided by AMOS, indicated that the model had an appropriate fit (Goodness-of-fit statistics: χ² = 1175.948, df = 360, χ²/df = 3.267, p < .001, NFI = 0.915, IFI = 0.939, CFI = 0.939, TLI = 0.931, and RMSEA = 0.072) (Byrne, 2001). Figure 4 provides the standardized and theoretical paths, whereas Table 5 shows the results of testing the hypotheses. The results of the data analysis showed that six of the seven hypotheses were statistically supported.

Figure 4.

Results of structural equation modeling.

Table 5.

Standardized Parameter Estimates for Structural Model.

				Standardized Estimate	t-value	Hypothesis
H1a	Novel experience	→	Attitude	0.091	2.084*	Supported
H1b	Identity building	→	Attitude	0.001	0.025	Not supported
H1c	Sustainable source	→	Attitude	0.149	2.736*	Supported
H1d	Taste quality	→	Attitude	0.339	6.045*	Supported
H1e	Nutritional value	→	Attitude	0.342	6.123*	Supported
H2	Attitude	→	Intentions to visit	0.869	25.434*	Supported
H3	Attitude	→	Word-of-mouth intentions	0.773	18.651*	Supported

Note. Goodness-of-fit statistics: χ² = 1175.948, df = 360, χ²/df = 3.267, p < .001, NFI = 0.915, IFI = 0.939, CFI = 0.939, TLI = 0.931, and RMSEA = 0.072. NFI = Normed Fit Index; IFI = Incremental Fit Index; CFI = Comparative Fit Index; TLI = Tucker-Lewis Index; RMSEA = Root Mean Square Error of Approximation.

p < .05.

More specifically, novel experience (β = .091 and p < .05), sustainable source (β = .149 and p < .05), taste quality (β = .339 and p < .05), and nutritional value (β = .342 and p < .05) had a positive influence on attitude. Hence, H1a, H1c, H1d, and H1e were supported. However, H1b, which suggested the effect of identity building on attitude, was not supported. In addition, the results of the data analysis indicated that attitude positively affects intentions to visit (β = .869 and p < .05) and word-of-mouth intentions (β = .773 and p < .05), so H2 and H3 were supported.

Discussion and Implications

There are increased needs for an alternative food source in order to overcome the current and future challenges of the food demand-supply chain, and edible insects are commonly proposed as a potential solution (Baker et al., 2016; Leijdekkers, 2016; van Huis et al., 2021). Meanwhile, there has been a growing restaurant diversity trend, so restaurants that specialize in offering edible insects have emerged. Nevertheless, the consumers’ motivational factors toward edible insect restaurants have not been sufficiently explored. This study was designed to fill these voids. Hence, the originality of the present research shines through, and the findings suggest a strategy in a way that can motivate the potential consumers to visit a restaurant that offers insect-containing foods.

Second, the data analysis confirmed that a novel experience is an important motivation that influences the attitude toward visiting an edible insect restaurant. This finding is in line with the previous studies (House, 2016; Ryu et al., 2017; Sogari et al., 2017), which suggest that curiosity and novelty are vital motivations to try eating edible insects. This result implies that people still perceive edible insects are new, such as a novel food. Therefore, the operators of an edible insect restaurant should promote themselves as being innovative and offer an experience that the customers have not experienced in past in order to induce a favorable attitude. Also, an edible insect restaurant is suggested to design its servicescape in order to differentiate itself from the other restaurants. For instance, an edible insect restaurant may be built with a distinct theme, such as dining in a forest with specially designed tableware Also, designing a massive open kitchen in the front or the middle of an edible insect restaurant is recommended in order to provide opportunities for the customers to watch how the food is creatively prepared. This type of unique servicescape would offer an exceptional customer experience, and it would consequently create the image of a place for a novel experience, which influences the formation of the customers’ positive attitude. Furthermore, a novel experience should not be the motivation factor only until an edible insect restaurant becomes more popular. An edible insect restaurant should continue the endeavor in order to remain as the creator of a novel experience by actively promoting new delicacies along with the efforts of the culinary team. This means that the culinary team can also contribute in order to create a novel experience via new food styling or innovative recipes. Promoting the chef’s cooking videos on social network services (SNS), which demonstrates novel dishes that are made with edible insects or a cooking contest with edible insects, are possible alternative solutions that will be able to attract more potential consumers to visit an edible insect restaurant.

Third, identity building was shown to have no effect on the attitude toward visiting an edible insect restaurant, which was contrary to our expectations. This is opposite to the prior research, which explained the notion of the customers’ food choice as a method of self-definition (Fox & Ward, 2008). The study results from Fogliano (2017) revealed that identity building was seen as the least influencing factor in entomophagy. We infer that the results of this study are due to the negative image of insects. The consumers have a negative attitude toward eating insects due to their disgusting image (Orsi et al., 2019), so they do not want to build their identities with an edible insect restaurant. This means that the consumers do not want to differentiate themselves from others based on an edible insect restaurant. For this reason, we assume that the relationship between identity building and attitude was not significant.

Fourth, the analysis results revealed that sustainable source as a motivational factor plays an important role in order to form the attitude toward visiting an edible insect restaurant. Martin (2014) emphasized the ecological aspect of edible insects and sent a direct message that eating insects will save the planet. Also, the results of our study supported the extant research that described the superior value of edible insects from the eco-friendly perspective as well as their significant influence on the customers’ response toward a certain type of restaurant (R. Han et al., 2017; Mitsuhashi, 2010; Shin et al., 2019). Hence, promoting and building an image for edible insects as a sustainable source is essential in order to increase the customers’ favorable attitude toward visiting an edible insect restaurant. For instance, more media coverage is suggested in order to stress the perfect embracing sustainability in an edible insect restaurant, which is based on the academia research and well-known world organizations reports, such as FAO. In addition, by building and working the green standpoint in the servicescape, an edible insect restaurant is encouraged to be built with environmentally friendly materials or a green building that is certified, such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and practice pro-environmental operations, such as not using any plastics. Also, an edible insect restaurant may be built with a backyard, a small museum, or a laboratory where customers are provided with a mini-tour of edible insects and how they are raised and prepared for dishes. It would be one of the effective ways in order to showcase how clean and uniform insects are eco-friendly produced and prepared. Otherwise, introducing the history of entomophagy in conjunction with its contributions on the earth are recommended as the part of a restaurant’s interior design, such as placing a chronicle on one side of the wall.

Fifth, the analysis result discovered that the taste quality is a powerful predictor of the attitude toward visiting an edible insect restaurant, which is in agreement with the previous studies (House, 2016; Tan et al., 2016). The consumers are often influenced by others and acquiring a third-party certificate (TPC) would be an important endeavor that an edible insect restaurant might want to pursue. An accredited TPC is considered to be a reliable signal of premium product quality. A Michelin star is a well-known example that recognizes excellence in cooking and dining quality (Kiatkawsin & Han, 2019; J. J. Kim et al., 2019). Therefore, an edible insect restaurant should go after TPCs, such as applying for Michel stars. This would help in order to create the image that an edible insect restaurant is a place for gastronomy and premium value is offered. Another practical implication along with the quality of the taste is available in regards to how the dishes are presented to being taste appetizing. Based on the study results that showed the essential role of sensory appeal as a motivator of food, Y. G. Kim and Eves (2012) suggested the importance of the effort in order to upgrade the food, taste, smell, and appearance. Furthermore, several consumers still despise insects due to their shapes despite events that promote insect-eating in some countries (Mitsuhashi, 2010). In this regard, an edible insect restaurant should look into the methods how dishes are presented as well and transforming insects in order to make their form unrecognizable, such as crushing, mashing, or pulverizing them. There are some but still a handful of festivals that promote edible insects in the world. For example, a wasp festival is held every year in Japan where foods that are made with wasp larvae are promoted (Nonaka, 2010), so actively holding a food festival at various locations is suggested for people to experience that dishes with edible insects taste great.

Sixth, nutritional value was verified as a salient motivation that influences the attitude toward visiting an edible insect restaurant, which accordingly supported the extant research (Frash et al., 2015; S. Y. Jang et al., 2019; van Huis et al., 2021). Edible insects are verified as a superior food source in nutrition via an abundant amount of evidence (Magara et al., 2021; van Huis et al., 2013). The consumers are not familiar with the nutritional value of insects, so explaining this to the consumers is very important in order to reduce their risk (Baker et al., 2016; Woolf et al., 2019). Therefore, indicating the nutritional value of each dish that is prepared with edible insects is suggested to be on the menu. Moreover, the employee expertise in regards to the nutritional value of each dish would be essential, so they can assist with the customers’ food selection as well as provide compelling reasons why an edible insect restaurant adds value to the customers’ healthy life and differentiates from other types or concepts of restaurants.

Finally, the results from our study confirmed the strong association between attitude and behavioral intentions, which included intentions to visit and word-of-mouth intentions in the context of an edible insect restaurant. How attitude affects the customer behavioral intentions has been studied in many studies (Hsu et al., 2016; Phillips et al., 2013; Siegrist et al., 2015; Teng et al., 2014), which suggests that attitude is an important predictor of behavioral intentions. Our results are specifically coherent with the findings by Menozzi et al. (2017) and Verneau et al. (2016), which confirmed the significant role of attitude in predicting the behavior toward eating insects. In this regard, this study empirically verified and extended the existing literature by finding the effect of the attitude and behavioral intentions toward an edible insect restaurant for the first time.

Limitations and Future Research

This study failed to recruit people who have already experienced edible insect restaurants for the data collection. Therefore, it is suggested to conduct another field study once more restaurants that offer insect-containing foods are established. Second, the penetration of eating insects varies according to different cultures and countries (Deroy et al., 2015), so it is difficult to apply the results of this study to other areas, which are based on the sample that was used in this research. Furthermore, there are many people who still hesitate to consume insects due to prejudices that insects are dirty, harmful, or inspire fear (Mitsuhashi, 2010). As a result, it would be meaningful to identify the barriers and challenges of an edible insect restaurant, such as food neophobia, which is the reluctance to try novel foods, and the overall food safety in order to accelerate the public’s popularity of an edible insect restaurants. Another drawback of this study is that an individual profile was not considered in order to identify the motivational factors and evaluate the structural relationships with the subsequent variables. A number of studies observed the differences with the motives that are associated with age, gender, income, and nationality (Cicatiello et al., 2016; Jia, 2020). Hence, it is recommended for the future studies to consider an individual profile as a moderator of these types of relationships.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research,authorship,and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research,authorship,and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iDs

Jinsoo Hwang

Jinkyung Jenny Kim

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