How Do Existing Organizational Theories Help in Understanding the Responses of Food Companies for Reducing Food Waste?

Ramakrishnan Ramanathan (), Usha Ramanathan, Katarzyna Pelc and Imke Hermens
Additional contact information
Ramakrishnan Ramanathan: Department of Management, College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Usha Ramanathan: Department of Management, College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates
Katarzyna Pelc: Business and Management Research Institute, Business School, University of Bedfordshire, Luton LU1 3JU, UK
Imke Hermens: Whysor BV, Brandemolen 65, 5944 ND Arcen, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 4, 1-18

Abstract: Food waste is a serious global problem. Efforts to reduce food waste are closely linked to the concepts of circular economy and sustainability. Though food organizations across the world are making efforts to reduce waste in their supply chains, there is currently no theoretical explanation that would underpin the responses of food companies in reducing food waste. Based on interactions with food companies over a nearly 5-year period, we explore the applicability of some well-known and not so well-known organizational theories in the operations management literature to underpin the observed responses of companies in reducing food waste. This paper is one of the first attempts to study food waste from an operations and supply chains point of view, especially from the lens of existing theories in the operations management literature and newer sustainability theories borrowed from other disciplines. Our research findings not only show that existing organizational theories and societal theories can help explain the motivations of firms engaging in food waste reduction, but also call for more research that could help explain some interesting observations that are not apparent when existing theories are used. This paper contributes to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 1, 2 and 12.

Keywords: food supply chains; food waste; circular economy; organizational theories (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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