Traditional food consumption behaviour: the case of Taiwan

Abstract

Food consumption is an inevitable experience within a travel destination and has become an area of interest for both host countries and tourists. However, research regarding traditional food consumption behaviour has not always addressed consumer choice behaviour of traditional food consumption in relation to destination. This study uses the Theory of Planned Behaviour as the basis for the study of how personality traits (food neophobia and sensation-seeking) affect traditional food consumption behaviour. Findings indicated that the theory provided feasible explanations for traditional food consumption behaviour of tourists. This study also found food neophobia has an important moderating effect on the relationship between attitude-purchase intention and subjective norm-purchase intention. However, sensation-seeking was neither a predictor nor a moderator of the intention to consume traditional foods.