Can Climate Change Awareness Predict Pro-Environmental Practices in Restaurants? Comparing High and Low Dining Expenditure

Myung Ja Kim,C Michael Hall

doi:10.3390/su11236777

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of what makes consumers reduce waste in order to address climate change, particularly when dining out. To accomplish this goal, this research constructs an extended theory of planned behavior model, using four main constructs of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intention and incorporating climate change awareness and mitigation pursuing actions, anticipated pride and guilt, and high and low levels of dining expenses. An online survey was conducted of 482 respondents aged 20 years old or over who had dined in restaurants in the previous month in 2019. A partial least squares-structural (PLS) equation modeling analysis has been utilized with multi-group analysis. Results reveal that climate change awareness has significant effects on attitude and behavior intention, and climate change mitigation pursuing actions positively influence attitude and behavioral intention to reduce waste. Consumers’ anticipated emotions lead to their behavioral intention. Diners’ behavioral intention to reduce waste is significantly influenced by their attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control on waste reduction in restaurants. The levels of dining expenses significantly moderate seven out of nine hypotheses. Research on consumers’ waste reduction in relation to climate change is not sufficiently conducted in the foodservice sector. Using an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) to understand diner behavior related to waste reduction and climate change, this study therefore makes an important contribution to improving sustainability in foodservices, especially in the Asian context.

Highlights

Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the individual measures they can take to mitigate climate change, including waste reduction [1], dietary change [2,3], energy and resource conservation [4,5] and adopting a low-carbon lifestyle [6]
Three items for climate change mitigation pursuing actions appeared to have less than 0.7 factor loadings and, were eliminated [73]
The evidence implies that the research framework in this study is superior to the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in accounting for consumers’ waste reduction intention while eating out

Summary

Introduction

Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the individual measures they can take to mitigate climate change, including waste reduction [1], dietary change [2,3], energy and resource conservation [4,5] and adopting a low-carbon lifestyle [6]. Climate change awareness overall positively encourages consumers’ attitudes toward climate change mitigation and associated behaviors [7,8]. Climate change mitigation is a significant challenge for the restaurant and foodservices sector given its relatively high energy and water use, often significant amounts of food waste, and supply chains that often carry a substantial carbon footprint [11]. To promote climate-friendly practices, longand short-term behavioral and system interventions are needed, which can complement interest among consumers and restaurants for information on food carbon footprints and sustainability [12]. Waste reduction in foodservices is critical for climate change mitigation as well as reducing environmental impacts in general, research has largely neglected examining consumers’ attitude and behavior to waste reduction for climate change mitigation reasons in the foodservice industry, in Asian contexts such as Korea

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Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion