Understanding food waste behavior: The role of morals, habits and knowledge

Food waste has been receiving much scholarly attention from the academic domain, non-profit organizations and governments as the environmental damages and financial losses it causes increase each day, prompting the decision-makers to take preventive measures. Most of the food waste occurs at the household-level, so understanding the causes of consumer-generated food waste will be more useful for prevention. This study aims to investigate both direct and indirect effects of consumers' moral attitudes, knowledge of food conservation, eating habits, and shopping habits on food waste behavior. Structural equation modeling is employed to survey data gathered from 328 participants in Turkey. The results of the study reveal that moral attitudes have a direct effect on food waste behavior, eating habits, shopping habits, and knowledge of food conservation. Furthermore, shopping habits are shown to have a significant impact on food waste behavior. The analysis also provides evidence of indirect effects such that shopping habits mediate the relationship between moral attitudes and food waste behavior along with the relationship between knowledge of food conservation and food waste behavior. Moreover, the relationship between moral attitudes and shopping habits is mediated by knowledge of food conservation. The results demonstrate that moral attitudes and shopping habits are two important determinants of food waste. When individuals believe throwing away food is wrong and doesn't match with their self-image, the amount of food they waste decreases. Also, individuals who shop responsibly, and buy as much as they need, report less food waste. Efforts that aim to reduce food waste in households should focus on fostering strong moral attitudes against food waste and warning consumers about the negative consequences of excessive shopping. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.