How do you like to chew? Consumer segmentation from mouth behavior patterns

Individuals differ in how they manipulate foods in the mouth—for example, some may suck on hard candy while others crunch it. These habitual oral actions are referred to as mouth behaviors (MB). While MB frameworks have been applied in Western contexts, little is known about their expression in Asian populations. This study examined MB patterns in Korea using a culturally adapted questionnaire completed by 1229 participants. Exploratory factor analysis identified three underlying factors—Effortless, Active, and Texture-Dependent mouth actions. Subsequent k-means clustering yielded four distinct consumer groups: Adaptive Processors (31.9 %), Active Processors (30.6 %), Effortless Processors (22.0 %), and Passive Processors (15.5 %). The clusters differed systematically by gender and age: women were more often Active or Effortless Processors, whereas men were more frequently Adaptive or Passive Processors; Effortless Processors were most common among younger adults, while Active Processors were more prevalent among older adults. The clusters also showed distinct response patterns on food liking items associated with chewing, crunching, sucking, and smooshing (Q21–Q24). Adaptive Processors gave moderate evaluations across all four categories, reflecting flexible oral strategies. Active Processors showed higher liking for foods linked with crunching actions, whereas Effortless Processors showed higher liking for foods associated with smooshing. In contrast, Passive Processors gave relatively lower evaluations across categories. Taken together, the findings support the applicability of the MB framework in a Korean context and demonstrate that these typologies are robust across cultural settings.