Information Disclosure Impacts Intention to Consume Man-Made Meat: Evidence from Urban Residents’ Intention to Man-Made Meat in China

Abstract

Meat substitutes such as man-made meat are emerging to promote low-carbon healthy consumption, mitigate climate change, and assist healthy economic development; however, most consumers seem reluctant to make the transition. While profound social change may be required to make significant progress in this area, limited efforts have been made to understand the psychological processes that may hinder or facilitate this transition. To clearly identify the factors influencing the public’s intention to consume man-made meat and their influencing paths, this study analyzes the mechanism by which man-made meat information disclosure affects the public’s intention to consume these products based on the social cognitive theory of “awareness-situation-behavior” and using structural equation modeling, with residents of seven Chinese cities as examples (647 respondents). The results of this study yielded three main findings. First, low-carbon awareness, personal social responsibility awareness, and man-made meat risk perception significantly influence the public’s intention to consume man-made meat, with risk perception having the greatest influence (−0.434). Second, low-carbon awareness and man-made meat risk perception have a significant interaction effect on the public’s intention to consume man-made meat (−0.694). Third, man-made meat information disclosure has the most significant moderating effect on the relationship between low-carbon awareness and the public’s intention to consume man-made meat, as well as a moderating effect on the relationship between man-made meat risk perception and the public’s intention to consume man-made meat.