Is it godly to waste food? How understanding consumers' religion can help reduce consumer food waste

Food waste is a problem worldwide, but solutions have yet to adequately incorporate consumers' core values—values which are often rooted in religion. Study 1 shows that restrictive religious norms (e.g., rules about food consumption, fasting) lead to greater food waste, whereas supportive relig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of consumer affairs 2020-12, Vol.54 (4), p.1246-1269
Main Authors: Minton, Elizabeth A., Johnson, Kathryn A., Vizcaino, Maricarmen, Wharton, Christopher
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Airports
Consumers
Food consumption
Food waste
Marketing
Policy making
Prevention
Religion
Religiosity
sustainability
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Summary:Food waste is a problem worldwide, but solutions have yet to adequately incorporate consumers' core values—values which are often rooted in religion. Study 1 shows that restrictive religious norms (e.g., rules about food consumption, fasting) lead to greater food waste, whereas supportive religious norms (e.g., sharing food) lead to reduced food waste. Study 2 replicates prior findings and rules out competing explanations. Study 3 manipulates marketing messaging to show that consumers with higher (lower) levels of religiosity are more likely to reduce food waste with a prevention (promotion) framed message partnered with environmental reasoning or a promotion (prevention) framed message partnered with people‐based reasoning. Implications for marketers, consumer advocacy groups, and policy makers desiring to reduce food waste are provided.
ISSN:0022-0078
1745-6606
DOI:10.1111/joca.12328