Promoting Sustainable Food Practices in Food Service Industry: An Empirical Investigation on Saudi Arabian Restaurants

Ahmed Hassan Abdou (), Thowayeb H. Hassan and Amany E. Salem
Additional contact information
Ahmed Hassan Abdou: Social Studies Department, College of Arts, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
Thowayeb H. Hassan: Social Studies Department, College of Arts, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia
Amany E. Salem: Social Studies Department, College of Arts, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 16, 1-22

Abstract: While facing environmental challenges and rising concerns around food security and equitable access to nutritious food, sustainable food practices (SFPs) have emerged as a crucial focus area for the restaurant industry. Hence, this study aims to investigate key drivers of promoting SFPs, including customers’ and stakeholders’ sustainable behaviors, governmental laws and regulations around sustainability, the commitment of restaurants to combat climate change, the financial and non-financial outcomes of adopting SFPs, and restaurants’ values and culture toward sustainability. In addition, it explores the power of promoting these practices in driving restaurants’ economic, environmental, and social performance. To achieve these objectives, an online survey was administered to restaurant owners and top managers interested in implementing these practices. Accordingly, eight hypotheses, which explored the direct relationships between this study’s variables, were tested using PLS-SEM with bootstrapping. Based on 221 valid responses, this study revealed that all proposed paths were significant and aligned with each hypothesis. Notably, sustainable behavior exhibited by customers and stakeholders had the greatest influence on promoting SFPs, followed by the values and culture of restaurants related to sustainability and restaurants’ commitment to combatting climate change. Additionally, promoting SFPs was a crucial predictor for enhancing restaurants’ economic, environmental, and social performance, respectively. Upon these findings, restaurant owners and top managers should build a solid framework for promoting SFPs in their establishments by focusing on these factors, thereby improving their overall economic, environmental, and social performance.

Keywords: green practices; green restaurants; environmental sustainability; sustainable/responsible performance; Saudi Arabia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/16/12206/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/16/12206/ (text/html)

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:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:16:p:12206-:d:1213939

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().