Food Waste Behavior Research Articles

Investigating consumers’ food waste behaviors: An extended theory of planned behavior of Turkey sample

Food waste leads to severe environmental, social, and economic consequences. Several factors affect the consumer's food waste intention and behavior. The ideal way to explain these factors is to evaluate them within the Theory of Planned Behavior scope. This study evaluates consumers' intentions and behaviors to prevent food waste through an Extended Theory of Planned Behavior. Moreover, the study aims to reveal the effects of the donation, injunctive norms, guilt, attitude, concern, and perceived behavioral control variables on the Intention not to waste food. To this end, a survey was distributed to 400 people by convenience sampling, and 335 valid questionnaires were evaluated. The effect of consumers' donation habits on the intention is insignificant and concern has a significant negative effect on Intention. Guilt, behavioral control, injunctive norms, and attitude variables have a significant effect on the Intention not to waste, and the injunctive norm is an essential factor in the intention not to Waste Food. Behavioral control and Intention have a significant effect on behavior. • Responsibility for reducing food waste depends on consumers’ intentions and behaviors regarding consumption. • Consumers’ intentions and behaviors to prevent food waste are evaluated through an Extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). • Extended TPB, with guilt, can be used in a food waste context in Turkey sample. • Donations and individual concerns are not effective factors in preventing food waste in Turkish culture

Generation Z diners’ moral judgements of restaurant food waste in the United States: a qualitative inquiry

This study explores Gen Z diners’ perceptions of restaurant food waste generation and prevention, as well as their related moral decision-making. Drawing on the norm activation model and moral disengagement theory, a dual-route process model was developed to depict Gen Zers’ the moral judgement for wasting food or not at restaurants. Six online focus groups with Gen Z diners in the United States were conducted and thematic analysis was applied. The findings of this study identified multiple underlying psychological mechanisms (e.g., moral obligation activation vs. moral disengagement) for explaining Gen Z diners’ food waste behaviors. Situational factors, cultural factors, and restaurant-related factors all play a key role in the moral judgment process. The findings also revealed what Gen Z diners expect restaurants to do in order to address the food waste problem. This study provides valuable theoretical and managerial implications for tackling the food waste issue. The practical contribution of this study supports the restaurant industry to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12 “Responsible Consumption and Production”.

Emotions and food waste behavior: Do habit and facilitating conditions matter?

Food waste is currently a critical global issue, even more so because waste has continued to increase despite various reduction initiatives. Deeper research insights into why people waste food are needed to formulate effective strategies to counter such behavior. This study investigated the drivers of food delivery app (FDA) users’ attitudes against food waste and their behavioral intentions to reduce it. Specifically, the study employed the theory of interpersonal behavior (TIB) to explicate the role of emotions in driving attitude and intentions. Data collected from active FDA users (N = 561) were analyzed to test the proposed associations. The other two key variables in the TIB framework – habit, operationalized in this study as ordering more food than necessary to take advantage of special offers, and facilitating conditions, captured through belief that food ordered via FDAs often goes to waste – are conceptualized and examined as moderation variables. The results confirmed the positive association of attitude and negative emotions with intentions, as well as the positive association of negative emotions and attitude. However, the negative association of positive emotions was confirmed with attitude only. In addition, attitude mediated the negative emotions-intentions association. Finally, the analysis revealed that the variable belief that food ordered via FDA often goes to waste moderated the association of positive and negative emotions with intentions. The findings of the study offer significant inferences.

Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on household food waste behaviour in Iran

This research aims to determine the influence of COVID-19 on consumer knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours related to food waste in Iran. From April 24 to May 24, 2020, an online survey was conducted in Iran with a standard questionnaire delivered in Persian. Descriptive statistics and various non-parametric tests were used to analyse the survey results. The results reveal significant changes in how consumers shop and interact with food, with implications on household food wastage. Indeed, according to the survey findings: (i) Iran's households have a positive attitude toward reducing food waste; (ii) food waste dropped during the pandemic; (iii) consumers made fewer shopping trips and spent less on groceries during the pandemic; (iv) food waste did not increase during the month of Ramadan. The survey results provide valuable insights to reduce food wastage and address food security risks during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran. The paper results contribute to a better understanding of food waste management behaviours and the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, which is paramount to designing effective, efficient, and sustainable recovery plans and policies.

Informative initiatives as a useful tool to raise awareness of food waste. An application to higher education

PurposeBecause food waste is a serious problem today, society is currently aiming for more responsible consumption to minimize it, as defined in the 12th goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This study aims to examine whether an informative initiative can help to raise university students’ awareness of food waste consequences.Design/methodology/approachThe initiative consisted of explaining the problem of food waste to students of two marketing subject modules within economics and business administration degrees and asking them to participate in an activity in which they analyzed their own behavior. To assess its impact, two questionnaires about the students’ food waste behaviors were administered, before and after the initiative, adopting an experimental design.FindingsThe results show that the information and awareness activities were successful, because, after the initiative, the students were more aware about the food waste problem and its consequences and were more critical of their behavior regarding the management of leftovers at home.Research limitations/implicationsDespite some circumstances under which the study was conducted (the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown), the practical and social implications are relevant.Practical implicationsThis study offers some interesting practical implications for educational institutions that want to inform and train students in more responsible consumption behavior. It shows that an initiative in which students are involved, like collecting data about food waste, in their homes with a diary, and informative sessions can be useful to increase students’ awareness of food waste to behave in a more sustainable way.Social implicationsThese findings may be of interest to academics for designing initiatives that try to train and educate young people in making more responsible personal and professional decisions.Originality/valueThis study analyzes the impact of an awareness-raising initiative about food waste in higher education, which is a relatively neglected topic in the literature.

An Investigation into the Causes of Food Waste by Tourists in All-inclusive Resorts in Turkey

ABSTRACT It is well-established that tourists play a significant role in food waste generation. This issue, however, has been under-examined from the perspectives of tourists. In this regard, this study attempted to understand the reasons for the excessive amount of waste generated by tourists in all-inclusive resorts and examine tourists’ food waste behavior through an exploratory approach. In this context, semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face with 26 regular holidaymakers at all-inclusive resorts. The factors affecting tourists’ food waste behavior were categorized into three main themes: food-related, tourist-related, and holiday-related factors. Findings revealed that food waste behavior was pervasive among tourists. It was also discovered that tourists denied their involvement in food waste, claiming that “other tourists” contributed more to food waste generation. A comprehensive model of food waste behavior of tourists was developed within the scope of this study.

The Impact of the Nutritional Knowledge of Polish Students Living Outside the Family Home on Consumer Behavior and Food Waste.

Food waste remains a major problem for the world and food security. Despite the fact that consumers are significant producers of food waste, little research attention has been paid to young people who are in college and living away from the family home. The present study aimed to assess food waste among college students living away from the family home, taking into account the nutritional knowledge acquired during college. In addition, the goal was to compare how nutritional knowledge affects food waste and consumer behavior in the study group. Descriptive statistics were performed on behaviors with food management at home, as well as shopping planning and self-shopping at the store, for the total respondents, students with nutritional knowledge and students without such knowledge. A chi-square test was performed to show whether the field of study influences the frequency of food throwing away and the appropriate management of excess food. Spearman’s rank correlations were calculated for the frequency of food discarding, the frequency and amount of shopping and the field of study. The results indicate that the field of study determined food discarding and appropriate food management (p < 0.05), while it was found that fermented dairy beverages, fruits and vegetables and bread were the most frequently discarded foods in both study groups (p < 0.05). Students with nutritional knowledge were less likely to throw away food compared to students without nutritional knowledge and were better at managing excess food.

Consumer-Related Antecedents of Waste Behavior in Online Food Ordering: A Study among Young Adults in China.

Food waste in the catering industry currently accounts for almost half of the total food waste in China and entails a large amount of land, water, and labor costs, in addition to the carbon footprint’s impacts on climate change. Under the background of increasing food consumption and waste from online catering, this study investigates the factors influencing the food waste behaviors (FW) of online food ordering in China and provides policy recommendations for food waste reduction. Using survey data from 482 consumers, we constructed a theoretical framework and examined the influence path of each factor using structural equation modeling (SEM) and a bootstrap test. The results showed that young consumers without farming experience and females wasted more on ordering food online. The more frequently the consumer ordered, the more they wasted. The level of consumers’ perceived behavioral control (PBC) was found to be lower than other factors, indicating that it was difficult for consumers to reduce food waste. Attitudes toward behavior (ATT), subjective norm (SN), PBC, and price consciousness (PC) were all positively related to behavioral intention to reduce food waste (BI). PBC and BI were negatively related to FW, and over-consumption behavior (OC) was positively related to FW. BI had a mediating effect on the paths of ATT, PBC, and PC to FW, but the pathway through which PC influenced FW was primarily through BI or PBC, not OC. In our research, BI had no mediating effect between SN and FW. Ultimately, our findings inform some policy recommendations to help nations, restaurants, food-ordering platforms, and consumers reduce waste.

Theory application in food waste behaviour programs: a systematic literature review

ABSTRACT Food waste is a significant environmental, economic, and social issue contributing to global warming. The benefits of theoretically informed programs have been verified in psychology, social science, and education, yet our understanding of theory application in food waste behaviour change is scarce. To understand how food waste can be reduced, we need to understand what works, when, where and why. Assessing the extent of theory use in the context of food waste behaviour is needed to advance progress. Following the approach employed in Willmott et al. (2019) this study sought to assess the extent of theory application in studies aiming to reduce household food waste. A systematic search and review of published studies concerning household food waste behaviour was conducted. Of 3,532 studies, nine studies met the inclusion criteria. Eight studies mentioned a theory, however, the association between program strategies implemented and the theory base reported was lacking. This review concludes there is considerable room for improvement in theory reporting to indicate clearly how theory is applied to reduce household food waste behaviour.

코로나 발생이 가구의 음식물 쓰레기 배출에 미치는 영향

The pandemic of COVID19 has significantly changed consumers' food consumption and waste behaviors. Specifically, the main section of households’ food consumption shifted from food awayfrom- home to eating at home which could be connected with household food wastes. This study estimated the effect of COVID19 on the amount of household food wastes by using Consumer Behavior Survey for Food(CBSF) data. We analyzed the effect of COVID19 on household food waste emissions using the ordered logit model given the theory that food waste emissions are influenced by food prices and opportunity costs of food utilizing. We found that household food wastes increase after COVID19, and a change of the opportunity cost of food utilizing causes increase in food wastes. Based on results, we provide policy implications regarding reduction in food wastes.

Quantification, Environmental Impact, and Behavior Management: A Bibliometric Analysis and Review of Global Food Waste Research Based on CiteSpace

With the help of CiteSpace software and the Web of Science core collection database, we quantitatively analyzed the global research progress of food waste, explored the core and hotspots, and compared and analyzed the methods and findings based on the literature. The results show the following: (1) The studies in the field are multidisciplinary, with researchers from different countries drawing from each other’s work. The United States, China, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Sweden are the top five in terms of the number of articles published. (2) Research hotspots have gradually transitioned from food waste treatment processes to the quantification of food waste, resource and environmental impacts, consumer behaviors, and interventions, with quantification studies and food waste in the restaurant industry being the emergent hotspots in recent years. (3) Quantitative studies were mostly conducted based on two or more methods, and a larger proportion of studies were based on secondary data. In terms of per capita food waste, the amount from eating out at restaurants was higher than eating at home, and higher in developed countries than others. (4) The environmental footprint implied by food waste reflects the inefficiency and unsustainability of the food supply chain, and the footprint of meat food is much larger than that of other types. (5) The future trend in behavioral research is to conduct in-depth randomized intervention studies to explore the impact of different interventions and policies on food waste behavior and to strengthen cooperation among experts in various fields to dig deeper into theoretical approaches, policy systems, and science and technology to propose more strategic and sustainable food consumption and promote the transformation of agricultural food systems.

Food Waste Behaviour and Awareness of Malaysian.

Food waste is a vast issue global, including in Malaysia. Food waste brings negative impacts, including increasing food production costs, impact on human health, and environmental degradation. Malaysian's animal- and plant-based diet preferences affected the desired food waste decomposition method as most of the methods only allow plant-based material to be utilized as food waste compost. The objectives of this study were to understand Malaysians' awareness of food waste behaviour and the food waste component for the decomposition. Malaysians usually produce more plant-based food waste than animal-based food waste. Most Malaysians have a high awareness of causes and impact of food waste, but they lack action on food waste reduction. Bio-compost is believed to be the most effective method to manage food waste, and most of them were willing to have it at home. However, some of them are unwilling to have a compost pile at home because there is no time to take care of it.

Food Waste at Household and Social Gatherings: Drivers and Possible Remedies

Over the course of the food supply chain, approximately one-quarter of the food produced for human consumption is thrown away. According to the World Food Waste Survey, food waste created at the household level accounts for almost half of the total food waste. Agrowing number of people are becoming concerned about food security and environmental consequences, such as resource depletion and greenhouse gas emissions associated with food waste. This has heightened public awareness of the issue. Despite the fact that food waste happens at every level of the food supply chain, private households have been recognized as being the primary source of food waste production. However, there is currently a lack of studies about the factors that influence consumer food waste behavior. This paper presents a twofold study. In the first section, this paper maps drivers of food waste at household level along with the remedies backed by extensive literature review. In the second section, this study identifies factors which are responsible for food waste in social gathering with special reference to weddings along with solutions to prevent food waste in the context to social gathering through systematically reviewing empirical studies on food waste practices. The results of the study demonstrate that food waste is a complex and multi-faceted issue that cannot be reduced to a single variable; as a result, a more comprehensive integration of multiple academic viewpoints is required. The mapping of the factors of waste creation allows for a more in-depth knowledge of household habits, party organizers’practices, guest behaviors toward food, and the development of food waste control policies. Finally, we connect the factors that have been found with formulation of policy, business, and social responsibilities. This study will be a value addition in the existing pool of literature concerned with responsible consumption and sustainable practices.

Food choice motives and dining-out leftover prevention behavior: Integrated perspectives of planned behavior and norm activation

To help solve the global food waste crisis, this study focuses on the mechanism of food choice motives and dining-out leftover prevention behavior. Based on theory of planned behavior and norm activation theory, this study presents a research model with food choice motives, intention to avoid food waste, social norm, and dining-out leftover prevention behavior. A total of 978 valid survey responses were gathered from restaurant customers in Taiwan. Analytical results show that food choice motives are positively related to intention to avoid food waste, and intention to avoid food waste is positively related to dining-out leftover prevention behavior. Furthermore, intention to avoid food waste mediates the relationships between food choice motives and dining-out leftover prevention behavior. This study also finds significant moderating effects of social norm on the effects of price sensitivity and ethical concern on intention to avoid food waste.

Perilaku Food Loss and Waste pada Ekonomi-Gizi Rumah Tangga Saat Pandemi Covid 19

Background: households are one of the biggest contributors to food waste in DKI Jakarta. This is caused by household food loss and waste (FLW) behavior and the impact of this behavior is economic loss and nutritional loss in vain. Objective: To analyze the correlation between FLW behavior and household economic and nutrition loss during the Covid-19 pandemic in West Jakarta. Methods: This study is a quantitative study with a cross-sectional design involving 100 households in the Kebon Jeruk area, West Jakarta. The analysis in this study uses the Spearman Rank correlation. Data were collected by interview technique using FLW behavior questionnaire and food waste questionnaire form filled out by respondents for 4x24 hours. The value of this economic loss will be analyzed using the market price listed on Hargapangan.id and the value of nutrition loss will be analyzed using nutrisurvey2007. The results: there is a relationship between FLW behavior on economic loss (p = 0.02; p &lt;0.05) but there is no relationship between FLW behavior on nutrition loss, namely energy loss (p = 0.15; p&gt; 0.05), protein loss (p=0,20;p&gt;0,05), fat loss (p=0,33;p&gt;0,05) and carbohydrate loss (p=0,12;p&gt;0,05). Households are expected to change their FLW behavior in order to minimize economic losses and optimally utilize nutrition.

Food Waste and Household Logistics: A Critical Analysis between Malaysia and Bangladesh

The wasting of food has become a significant issue among developed and developing countries. With increasing population, scarcity of resources, and global warming, the wasting of edible food is non-humanitarian, especially when most people are still malnourished. The current study was aimed at understanding the complex consumer behaviour that contributes to food waste behaviour by identifying the acceptance of reverse logistics by consumers via a technological platform to reduce food waste in Bangladesh and Malaysia. In this research, descriptive and causal research designs were applied to statistically describe and investigate the behavioural patterns of the target sample, and then, to make a comparison between two cultures: Malaysian and Bangladeshi. Social cognitive theory was applied to perform a critical analysis of household sectors in Malaysia and Bangladesh. A quantitative analysis was conducted on a sample of 245 respondents. The findings revealed that attitude and awareness play a significant role in shaping the behaviour of consumers, but the acknowledgement of preventive measures varies. This study considered the consumer traits, behaviour, attitudes, awareness, culture, and regional effects in Bangladesh and Malaysia. The paper proposed a prevention method through innovation and reverse logistics to help high-income people share consumable food with the underprivileged to reduce food waste in Malaysia and Bangladesh.

PSYCHOMETRIC EVALUATION OF A QUESTIONNAIRE FOR MEASURING FOOD WASTE BEHAVIOUR AND FOOD SECURITY AT THE HOUSEHOLD LEVEL

Introduction: Food waste and food security are two concepts that are often linked together. This study was performed for the psychometric evaluation of a developed questionnaire for measuring food waste behaviour and food security at the household level. Five expert panels conducted content validation for the relevance, clarity, simplicity, ambiguity of each item. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative research approach was employed for the questionnaire testing in 10 villages in the Samarahan district of Sarawak state. A total of 168 households were interviewed using face-to-face interviews. Data entry and analysis was undertaken using Microsoft Excel version 2016 and the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS, version 27.0), Result: respectively. Four items were improved, and one item was added to the English questionnaire after receiving feedback from the expert panel and respondents. Further refinement was also performed for the Malay version. Cronbach's alpha value varied from 0.713 to 0.961, indicating the reliability of the questionnaire. Conclusion: Overall, the respondents were able to comprehend most of the questions effectively. No problem was raised for the flow and sequence of the questions. Conclusively, the developed questionnaire is unambiguous in its reliability and validity. Nevertheless, further refinement is required before being used in future studies.

Metabolic Food Waste as Food Insecurity Factor-Causes and Preventions.

The Metabolic Food Waste MFW (kg of food) first developed in 2016 as a new indicator by Serafini and Toti, indicates the amount of food consumed above the nutritional requirements, and the impact of this overconsumption on the environment. It is necessary to identify the causes and to develop potential methods to prevent and reduce MFW, at the same time as increasing consumer awareness about unsustainable diets and changing diet habits towards more environmentally conscious consumption patterns. This study was conducted by collecting and analysing existing reports and studies regarding nutritional requirements, consumer behaviour related to food consumption and food waste, environmental impacts of food waste, and the concept of Metabolic Food Waste. The process of data collection involved searching the studies available online, using keywords related to the subject of MFW and overconsumption. The references in the initial studies consulted were also analysed in order to further identify new data relevant to overconsumption and MFW. The materials studied and analysed related to the environmental impact of MFW were published by E. Toti and M. Serafini in 2016 and 2019; additionally, in order to understand the causes of overconsumption numerous studies were reviewed regarding consumer behaviour, the relationship between economic development and overconsumption, mental health and dietary habits, physical context and dietary habits, genetic predisposition, also childhood and early adulthood environment. By analysing and corroborating external data available for food waste, nutritional requirements, and the environmental impact of food waste and consumer behaviour, we identified as primary causes for MFW the lack of nutritional education and little understanding of the nutritional requirements amongst all categories of consumers, poor access to appropriate food resources or reduced availability of fresh produced food. We conclude that for the quantification of the negative impact of MFW on both the environment and human health we need decisive action to raise consumer awareness for healthy and sustainable diets, together with a uniform worldwide distribution system for nutritious food.

A Take-Home Message: Workplace Food Waste Interventions Influence Household Pro-environmental Behaviors

Previous research on food waste interventions has mostly focused on micro-level factors related to the individuals, and largely neglected macro-level contextual factors such as work-to-home spillovers. Inspired by the multi-level framework, we present a case study of how macro-level workplace campaigns could decrease food waste in staff cafeterias, compete with micro-level factors like environmental identity, and further stimulate some employees’ food saving efforts at home. The workplace interventions combined smart bins with fortnightly informational feedback trialed in three staff cafeterias of a large hotel chain in Macau, China. Actual food waste data and self-reported behavior consistently show that the staff cafeteria receiving environmental framing with anthropomorphic cues had more reductions in food waste behaviors. A key determinant of self-reported food saving efforts at home was efforts to reduce food waste at work, which predicted beyond and above environmental identity and provided evidence for positive contextual spillover effects.

Consumer Behaviour and Food Waste: Understanding and Mitigating Waste with a Technology Probe.

Globally, nearly one third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. This equals a total of 1.3. billion tonnes per year, which is a large, unnecessary burden for the environment and the economy. Research and development have delivered a wealth of resources for understanding food waste, yet little is known about where food wasting occurs in the home. The study begins with a literature review of articles that deal with food waste and consumer behaviour, reflecting on their definition of ‘waste’, approach, findings and recommendations. Having noticed a lack of convergence in the literature, and an absence of research into digital technologies for the study of food waste, the potential for incorporating novel technology probe methodologies is explored. Building on the proliferation of internet of things devices, the ‘smart bin’ is introduced as an effective intervention for making visible routine household food wasting practices. These data were then triangulated with user interviews, leading to an enriched qualitative discussion and revealing drivers and mitigators of waste. This paper concludes with some reflections on the smart bin as a domestic product and how it might synthesise previous understandings of consumer behaviour, leading to better informed food waste policies and initiatives.