TRENDING TASTES: EXPLORING THE ROLE OF SOCIAL-MEDIA IN DRIVING FOOD INNOVATION AMONG CULINARY STUDENTS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55197/qjssh.v7si5.1741Keywords:
food innovation, social media trends, culinary students, Theory of Planned Behaviour, F&B IndustryAbstract
Culinary students occupy an increasingly influential position in shaping food innovation within the Food and Beverage (F&B) industry, yet the way they engage with digital trends remains underexplored. This study, "Trending Tastes: Exploring the Role of Social Media in Driving Food Innovation Among Culinary Students," examines how social media trends drive the tendency to innovate food among culinary students at UiTM Permatang Pauh. Although food-related trends proliferate across social media platforms, there remains a limited understanding of how culinary students draw on this digital content as a guide for their own food innovation. This study addresses that gap by applying the Theory of Planned Behavior to analyze the factors, namely attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control that shape students' tendency to innovate food. A quantitative survey design was adopted, with data collected through a structured questionnaire administered via Google Forms and completed by a total of 147 respondents selected through stratified random sampling. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics, applying descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, correlation, and regression to test the proposed relationships. The findings indicate that attitude and perceived behavioral control significantly predict culinary students' tendency to innovate food in response to social media trends, whereas subjective norms do not exert a significant influence. These results underscore the value of social media as a pedagogical and professional resource, offering practical insights for culinary educators and the wider F&B industry seeking to cultivate an innovative and adaptive future workforce.
References
[1] Ajzen, I. (1991): The theory of planned behavior. – Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 50(2): 179-211.
[2] Botes, M. (2023): Autonomy and the social dilemma of online manipulative behavior. – AI and Ethics 3(1): 315-323.
[3] Faleiros, F., Käppler, C., Pontes, F.A.R., Silva, S.S.C., Goes, F.S.N., Cucick, C.D. (2016): Use of virtual questionnaire and dissemination as a data collection strategy in scientific studies. – Texto and Contexto-Enfermagem 25(4): 6p.
[4] Hagger, M.S., Cheung, M.W.-L., Ajzen, I., Hamilton, K. (2022): Perceived behavioral control moderating effects in the theory of planned behavior: A meta-analysis. – Health Psychology 41(2): 155-167.
[5] Hair, J.F., Black, W.C., Babin, B.J., Anderson, R.E. (2010): Multivariate data analysis. – Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 785p.
[6] Krejcie, R.V., Morgan, D.W. (1970): Determining sample size for research activities. – Educational and Psychological Measurement 30(3): 607-610.
[7] Lederman, N.G., Lederman, J.S. (2015): What is a theoretical framework? A practical answer. – Journal of Science Teacher Education 26(7): 593-597.
[8] Lim, S., Cheng, M.G., Zainal Abidin, N.I., Hassan, M.N., Zakaria, N. (2025): Brand trust and brand loyalty on social media marketing activities and customer purchase intention. – Quantum Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities 6(5): 86-99.
[9] Pellegrino, A., Stasi, A., Bhatiasevi, V. (2022): Research trends in social media addiction and problematic social media use: A bibliometric analysis. – Frontiers in Psychiatry 13: 15p.
[10] Riswanto, A.L., Kim, S., Ha, Y., Kim, H.-S. (2025): Visual attention to food content on social media: An eye-tracking study among young adults. – Journal of Eye Movement Research 18(6): 14p.
[11] Sarkis, N., Jabbour Al Maalouf, N., Al Geitany, S. (2025): The power of digital engagement: Unveiling how social media shapes customer responsiveness in the food and beverage industry. – Administrative Sciences 15(7): 17p.
[12] Selvakumar, P., Bhumbre, K.D., Prabu, G., Kuchipudi, J.D., C, M.T., Jayadeva, S.M. (2025): The impact of social media on food culture. – In: IGI Global eBooks, IGI Global: 267-286.
[13] Silaban, S., Nainggolan, S.J., Ingtyas, F.T., Sabrina, E. (2024): Meta-analysis of the influence of social media on students’ cooking skills in the implementation of pastry bakery subjects. – Journal Corner of Education, Linguistics, and Literature 4(1): 137-144.
[14] Suryani, W., Sari, W.P., Ginting, S.M.B. (2025): Innovative trends shaping food marketing and consumption. – In: Advances in Marketing, Customer Relationship Management, and E-Services, IGI Global: 1-14.
[15] Tóth, J., Migliore, G., Balogh, J.M., Rizzo, G. (2020): Exploring innovation adoption behavior for sustainable development: The case of the Hungarian food sector. – Agronomy 10(4): 15p.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 MUHAMMAD SYAHIR FAHMI MOHD FAIZUL, NUR SYAMIM MOHD NAZRI, SYARIFAH ATIFAH SYED HAMZAH, NAJUA MOHD ALI, NUR SYAZANA YILDIRIM, SITI KHADIJAH ABDULLAH, WAN SITI NOR AZMA AB AZIZ, SITI SARAH FAZALUL RAHIMAN
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
