The Cultural-Consumption Value Framework for Understanding Sustainable Food Behavior

This study examines how consumption values and cultural orientation jointly shape consumer adoption of plant-based meat (PBM), an increasingly significant category in global sustainable food markets. Drawing on the Theory of Consumption Values (TCV), we investigate how functional, emotional, social, conditional, and epistemic values influence purchase intention and subsequent purchase behavior, and whether these effects differ by cultural orientation (individualism–collectivism). A quantitative survey of 446 consumers in Canada—a multicultural setting—was analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Results support that all five consumption values significantly predict purchase intention (p < 0.05), with emotional and functional values exerting the strongest effects. Purchase intention in turn strongly predicts actual purchase behavior. Moderation tests reveal that cultural orientation conditions several of these effects: functional, emotional, and social value influences vary significantly across individualist vs. collectivist consumers, whereas epistemic and conditional value effects remain more invariant. A multi-group analysis confirms these distinctions, suggesting that some value drivers are culture-bound, whereas others are more universal. The results add to international consumer research by combining value-based and cultural points of view in the context of sustainable food innovation. From a managerial perspective, the results provide guidance for market entry strategies. Firms should emphasize sensory quality and personal benefits in individualistic markets, versus collective well-being and social approval in collectivist contexts, to enhance PBM adoption. These insights inform culturally attuned positioning and communication strategies for the growing global plant-based foods sector.