Novel Food, Yes Please! Moral Attitudes and Behavioral Exposure in Insect-Based Food Acceptance

Growing concerns about resource scarcity have made food sustainability one of the most pressing challenges for the future. Although insect-based foods are recognized as a re-source-efficient and nutritionally adequate alternative to conventional animal protein, less is known about how responsibility-based communication and product exposure relate to changes in the psychosocial determinants of their acceptance over time. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study investigated whether responsibility-based communication could promote more positive moral attitudes and stronger intentions to consume insect-based foods over time. In a two-wave experimental design, 100 partici-pants were randomly assigned to either a responsibility-framing vignette or a neutral vignette and completed TPB-related measures at Time 1 and Time 2, two weeks apart. At the end of Time 1, participants received an insect-based snack, providing a naturalistic opportunity for product exposure beyond self-reported evaluations. Results showed no differential effects of responsibility framing. Across conditions, attitude, perceived be-havioral control, and positive moral attitude changed significantly over time, whereas behavioral intention remained stable. Most participants reported tasting the insect-based snack provided after Time 1. Because product exposure was not independently manip-ulated, its specific contribution to the observed longitudinal changes cannot be estab-lished. The study contributes to the literature on sustainable food acceptance and exten-sions of the TPB by distinguishing framing effects from broader longitudinal changes in psychosocial evaluations and highlighting the need for further research on the role of direct product exposure in insect-based food acceptance.