How to Measure Consumers Acceptance Towards Edible Insects? – A Scoping Review About Methodological Approaches

In recent years there has been a growing number of studies analysing consumer acceptance, preferences, choices and willingness to pay for insects and insect-based products as food. The aim of this chapter is to draw conclusions from existing literature published in scientific journals about the overall state of research activity on consumer attitude and behaviour towards entomophagy. A scoping review was conducted by searching electronic databases for relevant articles using a determined key-terms search strategy. The starting dataset (n = 1366) was screened and analysed by the authors and a total of 102 articles were included in the review. Findings highlight how a large number of researchers worldwide have investigated the potential drivers and benefits motivating consumers to accept insect and insect-based products as food as well as the main barriers that prevent individuals from consuming them. The main themes that emerged are linked to: (1) the type of insect species and studies performing sensory tasting sessions, specifically those comparing specific species types (e.g. crickets, fried grasshoppers) to general/vague names (i.e. willingness to consume insects or insect-based product); (2) psycho-social and attitudinal variables like intention to eat, willingness to try, familiarity, food neophobia, emotional experiences, willingness to eat and overall entomophagy acceptance; (3) information treatment about entomophagy (e.g. benefits/risks of eating insects); (4) socio-demographic variables like differences in culture/country of origin (i.e. cross-country studies), gender, age and others. A summary of the included records analysed as well as recommendations for future studies on how to develop research on consumer behaviour towards edible insect as food are explored.