🌟 About Me

I am a doctoral student enrolled in the Graduate School of Commerce at Chuo University. My supervisor is Professor Jaewoo Park. My research lies at the intersection of consumer behavior, marketing, and food science, with a particular focus on how consumers make food-related decisions in complex and imperfect markets. Drawing on theories from Consumer Psychology, Social Psychology, and Behavioral Economics, I employ rigorous experimental designs and quantitative methods to uncover the psychological mechanisms underlying consumers’ food choices. My work aims to generate actionable insights for marketing strategy design and behaviorally informed interventions that promote more sustainable and healthy food consumption.

Key Research Foci:

• Consumer Acceptance of Sustainable Proteins: Investigating psychological and marketing barriers to consumer adoption of alternative protein products (e.g., insect-based foods and cultured meat), and identifying effective communication and positioning strategies.
• Consumer Decision-Making in Healthy Eating Contexts: Examining how marketing cues and psychological factors shape healthy food choices, with implications for both consumer welfare and brand strategy.
• Consumer Responses to Product Imperfection and Food Waste: Exploring why consumers reject imperfect or “ugly” foods and how behavioral and marketing interventions can reduce waste and improve market efficiency.

If you are interested in academic collaboration or research exchange, please feel free to contact me at wangzining9808@163.com.

📖 Educations

• Chuo University, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo, Japan. Doctor of Commerce, majoring in Commerce.2024.04 - 2026.03
  
• Chuo University, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo, Japan. Master of Commerce, majoring in Commerce.2022.04 - 2024.03
  
• Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China. Bachelor of Engineering, majoring in Civil Engineering.2016.08 - 2020.06
  

🔥 News

•  🎉🎉 Zining Wang (Doctoral Program, Graduate School of Commerce) has received the JACS Paper Proposal Award.2024.12
  
•  🎉🎉 A mid-term report meeting was held for SPRING scholarship research students.2024.11
  
•  🎉🎉 The Master’s Degree Conferral Ceremony for the Graduate Schools of Law, Economics, Commerce, Literature, and Policy Studies was held.2024.03
  
•  🎉🎉 Zining Wang (Master Program, Graduate School of Commerce) had his paper published in the journal “Food Quality and Preference.”2023.06
  

📗 Publications

• Wang, Z., & Park, J. (2025). Keep away from it! Examining the contamination effect of insect-based foods in retail environments. Psychology & Marketing, in press.
• Wang, Z., Yuan, Y., & Park, J. (2026). Missing out is a loss: Investigating the effectiveness of scarcity appeals in promoting insect-based foods. Food Quality and Preference, 136, 105754.
• Wang, Z., Nguyen, M., Park, J., & Yuan, Y. (2026). From perceived healthiness to acceptance: How influencer type shapes consumer acceptance of insect-based foods. Food Quality and Preference, 135, 105719.
• Wang, Z., Gong, Z., & Park, J. (2026). Does dark mean insect? Investigating the impact of food color on the perceived likelihood of insect ingredients and consumer acceptance. Food Quality and Preference, 135, 105689.
• Wang, Z., & Park, J. (2025). Do not push me to eat insects! Investigating consumer responses to fear appeal in the context of insect-based foods. Food Quality and Preference, 133, 105638.
• Wang, Z., & Park, J. (2025). Do not take away my pleasure: Investigating the conflict between hedonic foods and entomophagy among Chinese consumers. Food Quality and Preference, 129, 105499.
• Wang, Z., & Park, J. (2025). Does larger mean riskier? Investigating risk perception and product size preference in insect-based food. Food Quality and Preference, 129, 105490.
• Wang, Z., & Park, J. (2025). Japanese-made or Chinese-made? Exploring the country-of-origin (COO) effect on insect-based foods. Food Quality and Preference, 126, 105421.
• Wang, Z., & Park, J. (2024). Anthropomorphism enhances consumers’ acceptance of insect-based foods by inducing positive responses and reducing negative responses. (Preprint)
• Wang, Z., & Park, J. (2024). Does personality make a difference? Exploring the connections between the big five personality traits and entomophagy among Japanese consumers. Food Quality and Preference, 119, 105225.
• Wang, Z., & Park, J. (2023). “Human-like” is powerful: The effect of anthropomorphism on psychological closeness and purchase intention in insect food marketing. Food Quality and Preference, 109, 104901.

📝 Conferences

• Society for Consumer Psychology - 2025 Annual Conference: Amplifying our Impact to Enhance Consumers’ Lives (27 February - 2 March 2025) — Keep away from it! Examining the contagion effect of insect-based food in the retail context. Wang, Z., & Park, J.
• 69th Japan Association for Consumer Studies: The Future of Food and Consumer Behavior (7-8 December 2024) — Addressing marketing challenges in the development, introduction, and promotion of insect-based foods. Wang, Z.
• EuroSense 2024: A Sense of Global Culture (8-11 September 2024) — Do consumers genuinely perceive insect-based foods as healthier and more sustainable: The role of information provision. Wang, Z., & Park, J.
• ACR Asia-Pacific Conference 2024 (8-11 July 2024) — Spending more or spending less: How friends’ expenditures influence our consumption intentions in the context of companion shopping. Wang, Z., & Park, J.
• Association for Consumer Research Conference 2023: Spreading Good…Well (26-29 October 2023) — It looks work better: Embedding a posture silhouette in medicine packages to increase purchase intention. Wang, Z., & Park, J.
• 15th Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium: Meeting new challenges in a changing world (20-24 August 2023) — The effect of human face presence on consumers’ responses to the advertised insect food. Wang, Z., & Park, J.

📚 Research Projects

• Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), SPRING Program (JPMJSP2170) 2024.04 - 2026.03
  Marketing strategies to enhance consumer acceptance of insect-based foodsResearch Fellow
  

🏅 Honors and Awards

• Excellence Award, JACS Paper Proposal Award, Japan Association for Consumer Studies (JACS).2024.12
  
• D-CPRA: Chuo Promotion for Research Activities in Doctoral Courses, SPRING Program, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).2024.07
  
• Academic Support Scholarship 2024, Chuo University.2024.07
  
• Outstanding graduate of the Graduate School of Commerce, Chuo University.2024.03
  
• Benefit Scholarship for Undergraduate and Graduate Students 2023, Chuo University.2023.11
  

💬 Academic Service

• I serve as an ad hoc reviewer for leading international journals in the fields of consumer behavior and food science, including Appetite and npj Science of Food.
• I maintain a research blog on Xiaohongshu (RED) sharing insights on latest publications from leading journals (e.g., JCR, JCP). With over 2,100 followers, this platform has served as a productive hub for networking, leading to long-term collaborations with scholars from different institutions that have resulted in a few publications and several ongoing projects.

💻 Skills

• Professional Skills: Solid theoretical foundation in consumer behavior and marketing research. Experienced in questionnaire design, experimental design, and data collection related to consumer studies. Capable of independently conducting quantitative research and writing academic papers in English, with several publications in international journals.
• Data Analysis: Proficient in using SPSS for data processing and hypothesis testing. Familiar with AMOS and SmartPLS, with the ability to build and analyze Structural Equation Models (SEM). Experienced in using XLSTAT for common marketing research analyses, including factor analysis and cluster analysis.
• Language Proficiency: English: TOEIC 935; strong academic writing and reading skills. Japanese: JLPT N1; capable of conducting academic research and daily communication in Japanese.