Neophobia, personal consumer values and novel food acceptance Ramo Barrena ⇑ , Mercedes Sánchez Universidad Pública de Navarra, Departamento de Gestión de Empresas, Campus de Arrosadia s/n, 31006 Pamplona, Spain article info Article history: Received 22 September 2011 Received in revised form 15 June 2012 Accepted 16 June 2012 Available online 29 June 2012 Keywords: Consumer behaviour Novel foods Neophobia Decision-making structure Means-end chain Laddering abstract For some years now, the food sector has been faced with an increasingly competitive and globalised mar- ket and much more stringent demand from consumers. This situation has forced food producers and pro- cessors, among other things, to innovate and develop new products in order to improve their position in the competition. However, innovations in the food industry suffer a high market failure rate, partly due to a phenomenon known as neophobia, which is the rejection some people express towards new or unfa- miliar foods. This paper aims to analyze whether variation in the complexity and the associated benefits and values in the choice structure relating to novel food products can be linked to the consumer’s degree of phobia towards novel foods. These objectives are pursued through a study based on the ‘‘means-end chain’’ the- ory. The results show that consumption decisions regarding novel food products have an important emo- tional component that is more pronounced in neophobic subjects, suggesting that the greater the reluctance to consume the product, the more complex the underlying choice process. Published by Elsevier Ltd. 1. Introduction The considerable increase in the number of new foods entering the market over the last decade has led to important developments in food innovation (Bäckström, Pirttilä-Backman, & Tuorila, 2004). Nevertheless, the arrival of new products appears to have created a climate of ambivalence or insecurity, in which some innovations meet with opposition and suspicion, while others easily become part of the daily routine (Grunert & Valli, 2001). The fact is that some authors report a very high new product failure rate, around of 70–80% (Gresham, Hafer, & Mankowski, 2006). Given the complexity of food consumption decisions, one of the investigated issues in recent years is the rejection that some people show towards new or unfamiliar foods, a phenomenon known as neophobia (Moreau, Lehamann, & markman, 2001). Food neophobia is defined as the unwillingness or refusal to eat or the tendency to avoid new foods (Pliner & Hobden, 1992). Tuorila, Lahteenmaki, Pohjalainen, and Lotti (2001) suggest that food neophobia is an indi- vidual trait manifested in the rejection of new or unfamiliar foods and independent of the individual’s own culture. According to Rozin and Fallon (1980) Fallon, Rozin, and Pliner (1984) and Rozin, Haidt, and McCauley (1993) there are three main reasons for food rejection by humans: (a) aversion, (b) danger and (c) disgust. 1 On the basis of these psychological categories taxonomy of the acceptance or rejec- tion of different foods was produced, with various dimensions (sen- sory affective, anticipated consequences, ideational and contaminant). Neophobia is both a trait and a state. Neophobia as a personality trait is evaluated with measuring scales (Pliner, 1994; Pliner & Hobden, 1992; Pliner & Loewen, 1997), while neophobia as a state, is measured by conducting task-based experiments involving food items, such as tests of willingness to try unfamiliar foods (Martins, Pelchat, & Pliner, 1997; McFarlane & Pliner, 1997; Pelchat & Pliner, 1995; Pliner & Melo, 1997; Pliner & Stallberg-White, 2000) or food preference tests (Hobden & Pliner, 1995; Pliner, Eng, & Krishnan, 1995; Pliner & Loewen, 2002). Several authors have analyzed the underlying factors of phobia towards new foods, finding that good taste information increases willingness to try them (Martins et al., 1997; McFarlane & Pliner, 1997; Pelchat & Pliner, 1995; Tuorila, Meiselman, Bell, Cardello, & Johnson, 1994). Neophobics tend to display negative attitudes and lower pleasure and taste expectations in relation to food (Arvola, LÄhteenmÄki, & Tuorila, 1999; Nordin, Broman, Garvill, & Nyroos, 2004; Raudenbush & Frank, 1999; Raudenbush, Schroth, Reilley, & Frank, 1998). However, the evidence is less clear regard- ing the effectiveness of information designed to create expecta- tions of positive consequences from consuming an unfamiliar food in order to overcome the tendency to reject it (McFarlane & Pliner, 1997; Pelchat & Pliner, 1995). Apart from taste, another determining factor is the nature and familiarity of the food with which the consumer is presented (Archer & Sjoden, 1979). Just as product characteristics influence individual phobia levels, socio-demographic variables also play a part. Specially 0950-3293/$ - see front matter Published by Elsevier Ltd. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2012.06.007 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 948 169394; fax: +34 948 169404. E-mail address: ramo.barrena@unavarra.es (R. Barrena). 1 More on these concepts can be found in Pliner, Pelchat, and Grabski (1993) Buzby and Roberts (2011), Radas, Teisl, and Roe (2008), Haidt, McCauley, and Rozin (1994), Zuckerman (1979) and Rozin et al. (1993). Food Quality and Preference 27 (2012) 72–84 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Food Quality and Preference journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodqual