As obesity and cancer threaten Americans' quality of life, eating more vegetables and lighter foods is becoming the new trend with Asian foods being a good source of vegetables. The primary finding of this study indicates that food neophobia (defined as a reluctance to eat and/or avoidance of new foods) plays an important role in influencing consumer familiarity with Asian cuisine, and thus further influences consumer attitude toward Asian menu items and consumer intent to purchase those items. This study shows that improving consumer familiarity by adding familiar flavors, appearance, presentation, and preparation methods into the newly-developed menu items could remove a potential barrier in trying new ethnic foods. The results also indicate that nutrition information moderates the impact of familiarity on U.S. consumers' nutrition-related attitudes toward Asian menu items.

This study examined impacts of different types of fiber labels (i.e., a regular label; fiber-labeled; fiber-labeled with a health claim) on consumers’ perceptions, purchase intentions, and willingness to pay. Consumers’ taste- and health-consciousness and degree of food neophobia were considered as moderators. Results reveal that different types of labels significantly influenced consumers’ perceptions toward the product. Consumers with higher overall perceptions had higher purchase intentions. Fiber labeling with a health claim made consumers willing to pay more. The analysis found a direct impact on the purchase intentions of consumers’ health-consciousness and their overall perceptions.

Purpose: This study evaluated risk perception as a critical factor influencing the intention to visit ethnic restaurants; in addition, the role of food safety information in reducing risk perception toward ethnic food was examined. Finally, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of protection motivation on risk perception. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was performed with 506 respondents. Data analyses including descriptive statistics, simple linear regression structural equational modeling and an independent t-test were conducted. Findings: The results highlighted the negative influence of risk perception toward ethnic food consumption on the intention to visit ethnic restaurants. The results indicated that providing food safety information on menus reduces risk perception. Protection motivation theory explained consumers’ risk perception toward ethnic food. In particular, vulnerability (the chance of occurrence), self-efficacy (certainty in one’s ability to carry out a recommended preventive behavior) and response-efficacy (belief that an individual can handle a threat effectively) affected consumers’ risk perception toward ethnic food. Practical implications: The results provide effective strategies for reducing risk perception, such as a provision of food safety information on the ethnic menu or an open kitchen, which produces a safer food image for consumers. Originality/value: A scarcity of research has been offered to explain the predictors influencing consumers’ risk perception toward ethnic food and the methods whereby risk perception can be reduced. Thus, this study makes an important contribution to the hospitality literature by exploring risk-perception-related variables.

Business Communication Research and Practice

Purpose: Smart farming is related to the low carbon certification system as it provides many opportunities to cultivate and manage crops in an eco-friendly, thereby reducing carbon footprint. However, there is a significant lack of consumer perception research on low carbon labels for smart farms vegetables. Therefore, this study aims to investigate consumer perceptions of smart farm vegetable and low carbon labels.Methods: This study manipulated cultivation type(general vs. smart farm) and low carbon labels (yes vs. no) as experimental stimuli. Measurement questions and the research model were validated through confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis. Hypotheses testing were conducted using SPSS 29.0, AMOS 28.0.Results: The results of the study showed no significant difference in consumers perceived naturalness based on cultivation types, and there was also no moderating effect of the low carbon label. There was no difference between environmental benefits and health benefits according to the cultivation type. Perceived naturalness had a significant effect on both environmental and health benefits, and environmental benefits showed a higher impact relationship. These benefits positively affected attitudes and willingness to pay a premium, Environmental benefits had a higher impact on attitudes, while health benefits had a higher impact on willingness to pay a premium. Lastly, attitudes were found to have a significant impact on the willingness to pay a premium.Conclusion: This study is valuable in that it investigated consumer perceptions of smart farms and low carbon labels that have not been previously studied. It compares the environmental and health benefits, confirming their influence on attitudes and willingness to pay a premium. The results suggest a potential expansion in academic research on smart farming and low carbon labels, offering practical insights for marketing strategies and policies for relevant companies.