The impact of Sustainability Claims and Product Categorization on Attitudes and Purchase Intentions toward Hybrid Food Products: The Moderating Role of Consumer Familiarity

As demand for innovative protein alternatives increases, hybrid food products (HFPs), which combine animal and plant-based ingredients, have entered the market as a novel category positioned between traditional meat and fully plant-based options to address changing consumer preferences and dietary changes. Yet, despite their increasing availability, HFPs remain underexplored in consumer research, with limited understanding of how they are perceived and evaluated. This study examines how two marketing tactics, sustainability claims and product categorization, affect consumer attitudes and purchase intentions towards HFPs in the Netherlands. Additionally, the moderating role of consumer familiarity is examined. A 2x2 between-subjects experimental study, through an online survey, was conducted with 171 participants living in the Netherlands. Participants were randomly assigned to view a fictious hybrid burger advertisement with either a sustainability claim or no claim and categorized as either beef or vegetarian. The results reveal that neither sustainability claims nor product categorization significantly influence purchase intentions or attitudes towards HFPs. Similarly, consumer familiarity did not moderate the effect of these marketing tactics. However, consumer attitude was found to be a strong and significant predictor of purchase intention. Among control variables, price sensitivity, ethical concerns, and subjective norms showed significant influence across models. These findings suggest that commonly used marketing tactics such as sustainability claims and product categorization alone may be insufficient to promote HFP adoption. This study contributes to the marketing and consumer behaviour literature of HFPs by highlighting the need for consumer-centred communication strategies tailored to the underlying attitudes and provides actionable insights for practitioners aiming to market HFPs.