Plant-based Meat Alternative Products versus Conventional Meat: Exploring the Construction of Consumers’ Perception from a High Meat-Eaters Perspective

Abstract: Title: Plant-based Meat Alternative products versus Conventional Meat: Exploring the Construction of Consumers’ Perception from a High Meat-Eaters Perspective Course: BUSN39 Degree Project in Global Marketing Authors: Akankshya Mishra and Laia Martinez Miracle Supervisor: Hossain Shahriar Keywords: Consumer Perception, Sustainable Consumption, Meat Consumption, Plant-based Meat Alternative Products (PBMA), Plant-based diets Purpose: The purpose of the study was to acquire an understanding of how consumers build their perception towards PBMA products from the viewpoint of high meat-eaters. Methodology/Empirical data: The study is based on the foundation of social constructionism philosophy. The research design for this study is qualitative, and adopts an inductive approach to develop general concepts based on findings. The data is collected through 15 semi-structured interviews from high meat-eaters belonging to the young generations. Findings/Conclusion: Findings in this study imply that the perception towards PBMA products is built upon three main contributors. First, the different identified reasons underlying the consumers’ affinity towards the meat are found to be core contributors to the formation of perception towards PBMA products, which are culture and family habits, nutrition and health, taste and feeling, and convenience and availability. In addition, these reasons were found to affect the consumers’ degree of openness and reluctance to meat reduction and PBMA acceptance. Second, the awareness of PBMA products, the previous experiences with these products as well as the preconceived notions and expectations related to these products, were also found relevant to the construction of consumer perception. Further, the level of curiosity for trying new types of food was found to affect consumers’ willingness to try PBMA products. Lastly, it has been found that the perception also depends on consumers’ personal views on sustainability.