Determinants of household food waste behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran: an integrated model

Zahra Fozouni Ardekani (), Seyed Mohammad Javad Sobhani (), Marcelo Werneck Barbosa (), Ehsan Amiri-Ardekani (), Samaneh Dehghani (), Najmeh Sasani () and Hans De Steur ()
Additional contact information
Zahra Fozouni Ardekani: Tarbiat Modares University
Seyed Mohammad Javad Sobhani: Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan
Marcelo Werneck Barbosa: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Avenida Vicuña Mackenna
Ehsan Amiri-Ardekani: Shiraz University of Medical Sciences
Samaneh Dehghani: Tehran University of Medical Sciences
Najmeh Sasani: Shiraz University of Medical Sciences
Hans De Steur: Ghent University

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2024, vol. 26, issue 10, No 67, 26205-26235

Abstract: Abstract In response to the increasing global concerns about food waste and its effects on human communities, the present study aims to identify food waste behavior antecedents for households during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran. An integrated framework was proposed grounded on the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Protection Motivation Theory. Based on a survey with 405 respondents, the underlying determinants of food waste behavior among Iranian households were identified and data were analyzed with Covariance based Structural Equation Modeling. In this study, perceived behavioral control, attitude, and coping appraisal were found to impact households’ intention to reduce food waste positively. Conversely, subjective norms and threat appraisal were not found to positively impact such intention. Furthermore, a slight negative effect of the intention to reduce food waste on this FW reduction behavior was observed. The threat of COVID-19 infection did not influence consumers’ intention to reduce food waste, nor did the opinion of close friends and family. This study fills a theoretical research gap in food waste behavioral studies by proposing a novel integrated framework based on the Protection Motivation Theory, which is deemed suitable under high-risk contexts such as pandemics. Moreover, the results provide relevant implications for managers, policymakers, and future research.

Keywords: Consumer survey; Food waste; COVID-19; Theory of planned behavior; Protection motivation theory; Iran (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-023-03724-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:endesu:v:26:y:2024:i:10:d:10.1007_s10668-023-03724-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/10668

DOI: 10.1007/s10668-023-03724-w

Access Statistics for this article

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development is currently edited by Luc Hens

More articles in Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().