Factors affecting customer attitudes towards alternative cricket protein and the concept of novel products in China and Thailand

Figures & data

Table 1. Consumer behaviour questions.

Questions	Answer
1. Have you ever eaten processed crickets, such as fried, boiled, or added to your diet? (If you answer “Never”, please skip to question 3 and 4)	⇒ Ever ⇒ Never
2. What is your favourite processed cricket product? (Check all that apply)	⇒ Boiled ⇒ Powder
3. Do you know about cricket powder?	⇒ Know ⇒ Do not know
4. Have you ever eaten cricket powder?	⇒ Ever ⇒ Never
5. Idea generation: If there were a cricket powder product, what kind of food do you think cricket powder should be in?	⇒ Open answer

Table 2. Factors affecting consumers’ perceptions of cricket and cricket powder.

Factors	Questions
Sensory Evaluation (SE)	SE1: Do you think the texture of cricket powder affects consumption? SE2: Do you think the smell of cricket powder affects your eating? SE3: Do you think the taste of cricket powder affects consumption? SE4: Do you think cricket powder will cause irritation to consume?
Nutritional Value (NV)	NV1: Crickets have nutrients that are beneficial to the body. NV2: Cricket powder is higher in protein than other animals (pigs, chickens, and cows) when compared at 100 grams. NV3: Cricket powder has more essential fats than other animals (pig, chicken, cow) when compared at 100 grams. NV4: Cricket powder has a high fibre content that is beneficial to the body. NV5: Cricket powder is safe. It does not harm your health.
Familiarity (F)	F1: Consumption of fried crickets and cricket powder feels no different. F2: Consumers are familiar with eating crickets. F3: Consumers are not afraid of eating crickets in any form of processing. F4: Currently, the consumption of edible insects is not uncommon or disgusting.
Knowledge & Education (KE)	KE1: Consumers have convenient access to information about cricket powder. KE2: If consumers have knowledge of cricket powder, this will result in more craving. KE3: If consumers know that cricket powder is high in protein, this will result in more craving. KE4: If consumers know that cricket powder is high in fibre, this will result in more craving. KE5: If consumers know that cricket powder has the necessary amount of fat, this will result in more craving.
Sustainability (S)	S1: Cricket powder is an eco-friendly product because it uses less resources and production than other animals. S2: Cricket powder can reduce the consumption of large animals (pigs and cows). S3: Cricket farming can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. S4: Edible insect farming is more sustainable than other animal farms.
Generation (G)	G1: Baby Boomers (54 years old or older) have a high perception and acceptance of cricket powder. G2: Gen X (38 to 53 years old) has a high perception and acceptance of cricket powder. G3: Gen Y (21 to 37 years old) has a high perception and acceptance of cricket powder. G4: Gen Z (20 years old or younger) has a high perception and acceptance of cricket powder.
Emotional Response	1. How do you think eating processed crickets in which you can see the structure of the cricket, such as fried crickets and boiled crickets, influences emotion? 2. How do you think eating processed crickets as a food product (without the structure of crickets, such as bread mixed with cricket powder, cake mixed with cricket powder and pasta mixed with cricket powder) influences emotion?

Table 3. Results of the demographics of Thai and Chinese consumers.

Demographic Information	Frequency (%)
	Thai Consumers			Chinese Consumers
Gender
Male Female	186 (42.27%) 254 (57.73%)			218 (51.42%) 206 (48.58%)
Total	440 (100.0%)			424 (100.0%)
Age 20 years old or younger (Gen Z) 21 to 37 years old (Gen Y) 38 to 53 years old (Gen X) 54 years old or older (Baby Boomer)	120 (27.27%) 102 (23.18%) 112 (25.45%) 106 (24.09%)			109 (25.71%) 100 (23.58%) 108 (25.47%) 107 (25.24%)
Education High school Vocational education Bachelor’s degree Master’s degree Doctorate degree	113 (25.7%) 80 (18.2%) 195 (44.4%) 41 (9.3%) 10 (2.3%)			137 (32.31%) 98 (23.11%) 151 (35.61%) 38 (8.96%) 0 (0%)
Consumer behaviour of Thai and Chinese consumers
1. Have you ever eaten processed crickets, such as fried, boiled, or added to meals?	Ever	Never		Ever	Never
	381 (86.6%)	59 (13.4%)		278 (65.57%)	146 (34.43%)
2. What is your favourite processed cricket product? (Check all that apply)	Boiled	Fried	Powder	Boiled	Fried	Powder
	179 (40.8%)	344 (78.4%)	87 (19.8%)	162 (38.21%)	160 (37.74%)	102 (24.06%)
3. Do you know about cricket powder?	Know	Don’t know		Know	Don’t know
	236 (53.6%)	204 (46.4%)		279 (65.8%)	145 (34.2%)
4. Have you ever eaten cricket powder?	Ever	Never		Ever	Never
	88 (20.0%)	352 (80.0%)		303 (71.46%)	121 (28.4%)

Table 4. T-Test results of six factors influencing both Thai and Chinese consumer perception.

Questions	Groups/number of consumers	Mean^1,	SD^1	p- value	t-value
Sensory evaluation factor
SE1^ns	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.79 3.89	1.12 1.18	.19	−1.312
SE2	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.75^b 3.90^a	0.92 1.16	.03	−2.115
SE3^ns	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.89 3.95	0.99 1.16	.42	−0.812
SE4	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.47^b 3.90^a	0.99 1.10	.00	−6.019
Nutritional value factor
NV1	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	4.11^a 3.89^b	0.83 1.21	.00	3.147
NV2^ns	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.80 3.90	0.74 1.16	.13	−1.520
NV3	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.80^b 3.98^a	0.85 1.17	.01	−2.577
NV4	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.76^b 3.97^a	0.72 1.14	.00	−3.241
NV5^ns	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.77 3.82	0.74 1.19	.45	−0.744
Familiarity factor
F1	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.54^b 3.86^a	1.15 1.19	.00	−3.953
F2	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.56^b 3.98^a	0.96 1.11	.00	−5.964
F3	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.64^b 3.98^a	0.97 1.11	.00	−4.465
F4^ns	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.84 3.97	0.79 1.12	.05	−1.988
Knowledge and education factor
KE1	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.68^b 3.84^a	1.03 1.25	.04	−2.054
KE2^ns	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.71 3.84	0.81 1.20	.06	−1.916
KE3^ns	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.91 3.94	0.83 1.21	.68	−0.419
KE4^ns	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.82 3.85	0.77 1.14	.64	−0.466
KE5^ns	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.86 3.88	0.80 1.19	.79	−0.264
Sustainability factor
S1	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.95^a 3.79^b	0.82 1.24	.02	2.310
S2	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.64^b 3.85^a	0.83 1.24	.00	−2.970
S3^ns	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.83 3.89	0.81 1.23	.35	−0.937
S4	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.72^b 3.92^a	0.76 1.10	.00	−3.173
Generation factor
Gen Baby Boomer^ns	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.96 3.86	0.86 1.20	.16	1.408
Gen X	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.67^b 3.89^a	0.70 1.22	.00	−3.305
Gen Y	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.69^b 3.97^a	0.82 1.12	.00	−4.084
Gen Z	Thai consumer/440 Chinese consumer/424	3.54^b 3.95^a	0.87 1.06	.00	−6.240

^NS= nonsignificant.¹Mean and SD from 440 Thai consumers and 424 Chinese consumers.²Different letters in the same column indicate significant differences by t test (p < .05).

Figure 1. Emotional responses (a: positive emotion and b: negative emotion) of Thai vs. Chinese consumers regarding the perception of the different types of cricket products.

TH = Thai consumers, CH= Chinese consumers, CS= Original cricket structure, and PP = Processed cricket products.

Figure 2. Correspondence analysis (CA) plots between ten categories of food products and four generations of Thai and Chinese consumers².

¹Ten categories of food products, including main dish, dessert, bakery product, beverage, dipping sauce, snack, seasoning and ingredient, food supplement and functional food, processed food, and applied in all types of products.² CH is Chinese consumers, and TH is Thai consumers.