Browsing by Subject "Sustainable consumption"

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The need for consumer-focused household food waste reduction policies using dietary patterns and socioeconomic status as predictors: a study on wheat bread waste in Shiraz, Iran
(2022) Ghaziani, Shahin; Ghodsi, Delaram; Schweikert, Karsten; Dehbozorgi, Gholamreza; Rasekhi, Hamid; Faghih, Shiva; Doluschitz, Reiner
Current household food waste (HFW) reduction plans usually focus on raising consumer awareness, which is essential but insufficient because HFW is predominantly attributed to unconscious behavioral factors that vary across consumer groups. Therefore, identifying such factors is crucial for predicting HFW levels and establishing effective plans. This study explored the role of dietary patterns (DP) and socioeconomic status (SES) as predictors of HBW using linear and non-linear regression models. Questionnaire interviews were performed in 419 households in Shiraz during 2019. A multilayer sampling procedure including stratification, clustering, and systematic sampling was used. Three main DPs, i.e., unhealthy, Mediterranean, and traditional, were identified using a food frequency questionnaire. Results indicated that a one-unit rise in the household’s unhealthy DP score was associated with an average increase in HBW of 0.40%. Similarly, a one-unit increase in the unhealthy DP score and the SES score increased the relative likelihood of bread waste occurrence by 25.6% and 14.5%, respectively. The comparison of findings revealed inconsistencies in HFW data, and therefore the necessity of studying HFW links to factors such as diet and SES. Further investigations that explore HFW associations with household characteristics and behavioral factors will help establish contextual and effective consumer-focused plans.
Spillover in sustainable consumer behavior: a matter of commitment
(2025) Henn, Laura; Kaiser, Florian G.; Adler, Maximilian; Elf, Patrick; Gatersleben, Birgitta; Henn, Laura; University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany; Kaiser, Florian G.; Otto‐von‐Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany; Adler, Maximilian; Otto‐von‐Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany; Elf, Patrick; Middlesex University, London, UK; Gatersleben, Birgitta; University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
Consumers express their commitment to environmental protection by engaging in a variety of environmentally protective behaviors. We thus suggest that strengthening consumers' commitment to environmental protection will cause behavioral spillover, which is the joint change in multiple environmentally protective behaviors. This idea differs from other spillover notions that draw on psychological processes that follow a change in a specific behavior. By reanalyzing data from a pre‐post treatment‐control quasi‐field experiment with customers of a retail company in which one group was exposed to a multiple‐component intervention over the course of 8 months, whereas the other was not, we corroborated a significant commitment gain in the experimental group ( n = 81) that did not occur in the control group ( n = 152). This commitment gain manifested in the expected spillover effect that mirrored the Rasch‐model‐implied likelihood gains in increasingly favorable behavioral expressions of people's commitment to environmental protection. This research complements existing models of behavioral spillover by providing theoretical and empirical arguments that strengthening consumers' commitment to environmental protection can result in spillover. In practical terms, focusing on people's commitment to environmental protection could thus be a promising avenue for directly promoting sustainable lifestyles.