Innovative food and sustainable consumption behaviour. The role of consumer-related characteristics in lab-grown meat (LGM) consumption

The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers’ reactions to a new kind of green food product that is the so-called lab-grown meat (LGM). This kind of meat does not derive from animal or vegetal cultures but is produced on the basis of “tissue-engineering” technologies, by injecting muscle tissue from an animal into a cell culture, allowing cells to “grow” outside the animal’s body. By considering the similar nutritional characteristics of traditional types of meat, and the potential in terms of sustainability, we investigate the effect of the advertising, communication focus promoting LGM-based meat, on consumers’ willingness to buy and word-of-mouth, by shedding light on the moderator role of consumers’ environmentalism and status consumption orientation tendency in influencing the such relationship. Through an exploratory research design, we conducted a study based on a two-cell experiment that manipulated the advertising communication focus by using a hamburger made of synthetic meat related to a fictitious brand called “Gnam”, to manipulate the advertising communication focus (sustainability vs. taste), then evaluating consumers’ willingness to buy, word-of-mouth, environmentalism, and status consumption orientation. Results show that the communication focus (sustainability vs. taste) exert a positive effect on consumers’ willingness to buy and word-of-mouth, and how such effect is magnified both by consumers’ environmentalism and status consumption orientation, in the attempt to show other a green status and their green consumption tendency. Despite the promising results, the study does not consider other consumers’ individual differences, i.e., as for the role of age, or cultural differences. Practically, our study suggests marketers and managers how to design effective marketing campaigns to incentivize LGM-based food products purchase, and promote positive word-of-mouth, on the basis of certain consumers’ individual differences useful to segment their clientele in terms of environmentalism, and status consumption orientation tendency. Socially, our study may contribute to incentivizing the use of alternative forms of meat as a food product not deriving from animal or vegetal culture, coherently with recent sustainability worldwide claimed goals. Despite the promising results, the study does not consider other consumers’ individual differences, i.e., as for the role of age, or cultural differences.