Food waste at the consumer end is most problematic in developed countries, as well as in Taiwan. Nevertheless, there has been very little empirical research on the factors associated with reducing consumers’ food waste in Taiwan. This study makes an attempt to explore the factors that influence consumers’ intentions and behavior regarding food waste reduction via an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB), with a newly-added construct, the consumers’ food management plan.
We conducted a survey from April to May 2019. The questionnaires were distributed in the Love River branch of a hypermarket and the Yancheng branch of a supermarket in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. After removing samples with incomplete responses, there remained 204 valid questionnaires from the survey. We applied a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to perform the estimation. Both SPSS24 and AMOS24 software were employed.
The results showed that both subjective norms and perceived behavioral control had significant positive effects, while attitude had no significant effect on the intention to reduce food waste. The intention to reduce food waste has a significant negative effect on food waste behavior. By contrast, the impact of perceived behavioral control on food waste behavior was not significant. Nevertheless, perceived behavioral control had a significant positive effect on the consumers’ food management plan. The food management plan had a significant negative effect on food waste behavior.
These findings imply that establishing a good example within a family may positively influence other family members in reducing food waste. Moreover, guiding consumers towards the implementation of food management plans was found to be useful in reducing food waste. Finally, perceived behavioral control could be improved through measures such as reducing the level of inconvenience and increasing consumer autonomy, for instance by increasing the variety of packaging sizes.