Consumer Intentions & Food-Wasting Behavior

Abstract: This study aims to map out Lund University students’ intentions and behaviors in regard to food waste. Through a thorough literature review, behaviors commonly related to food waste levels were identified, and are referred to as food-wasting behaviors. The theory of planned behavior is used for this paper, which is commonly applied when studying human behavior, and therefore also when it comes to food-wasting behavior. The paper follows a quantitative method through a deductive approach in which the relationship between theory and research was examined, and the focus is on the testing of the theory. Based on the theory and literature, three hypotheses were formulated. The hypotheses were tested on the population via a questionnaire by finding each respondent’s attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, as well as identifying their food-wasting behavior. The key findings of this paper were the acceptance of parts of H1 and H3. This showed that a positive attitude towards the minimization of food waste has an effect on both price-consciousness and post-consumption behavior in favor of minimizing food waste. In addition, high perceived behavioral control when it comes to minimizing food waste proved to directly affect consumers’ planning and overbuying habits, as well as estimation of food waste levels. However, H2 was rejected, meaning that subjective norms did not prove to have a significant effect on any of the food-wasting behaviors analyzed in this paper. The accepted relationships were brought up for discussion and provided implications regarding business strategies for supermarkets.