Abstract
Household food waste is a significant concern beyond policy formulation and regulations because of its proximity. This study examines the impact of climate change awareness and household behavioral intentions toward food waste consequence mitigation in south-eastern Nigeria. Specifically, we evaluated complicated household attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intention toward food waste in two experiments with between-subject designs: participants (N = 480), 240 (awareness, 120 aware and 120 unaware) and 240 (information, 120 high and 120 low). The first and second experiments revealed that a significant effect of climate change awareness elicited a more favorable effect on food waste reduction when households were exposed to awareness and high information banners because climate change awareness was sensitized through food waste consequences and disasters. Intention toward food waste reduction mediated the relationship between climate change awareness and food waste reduction. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data associated with this article will be made available on request.
References
Abbasi ZAK, Nawaz A (2020) Impact of climate change awareness on climate change adaptions and climate change adaptation issues. Pak J Agric Res 36(3). https://doi.org/10.17582/journal.pjar/2020/33.3.619.636
Ajzen I (1991) The theory of planned behavior. Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 50(2):179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T
Andrade C (2020) The inconvenient truth about convenience and purposive samples. Indian J Psychol Med 43(1):86–88. https://doi.org/10.1177/0253717620977000
Annunziata A, Agovino M, Ferraro A, Mariani A (2020) Household food waste: a case study in Southern Italy. Sustainability 12(4):1495. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12041495
Ariyani L, Ririh KR (2020) Understanding behavior of household food waste management: food waste hierarchy context. Jurnal Ilmiah Teknik Industri 19(2):142–154. https://doi.org/10.23917/jiti.v19i2.11994
Balthi MR (2020) Evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions from solid waste management practices in state capitals of north eastern Nigeria. J Eng Stud Res 26(4):40–46. https://doi.org/10.29081/jesr.v26i4.234
Barone AM, Grappi S, Romani S (2019) “The road to food waste is paved with good intentions”: when consumers’ goals inhibit the minimization of household food waste. Resour Conserv Recycl 149:97–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.05.037
Boas TC, Christenson DP, Glick DM (2018) Recruiting large online samples in the United States and India: Facebook, Mechanical Turk, and Qualtrics. Polit Sci Res Methods 8(2):232–250. https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2018.28
Bravi L, Francioni B, Murmura F, Savelli E (2020) Factors affecting household food waste among young consumers and actions to prevent it. A comparison among UK, Spain and Italy. Resour Conserv Recycl 153:104586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.104586
Cakar B, Aydin S, Varank G, Ozcan HK (2020) Assessment of environmental impact of FOOD waste in Turkey. J Clean Prod 244:118846. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118846
Daxini A, Ryan M, O’Donoghue C, Barnes AP (2019) Understanding farmers’ intentions to follow a nutrient management plan using the theory of planned behaviour. Land Use Policy 85:428–437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.04.002
Di Talia E, Simeone M, Scarpato D (2019) Consumer behaviour types in household food waste. J Clean Prod 214:166–172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.216
Djekic I, Miloradovic Z, Djekic S, Tomasevic I (2019) Household food waste in Serbia–attitudes, quantities and global warming potential. J Clean Prod 229:44–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.400
Douenne T, Fabre A (2020) French attitudes on climate change, carbon taxation and other climate policies. Ecol Econ 169:106496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106496
Ezeudu OB, Agunwamba JC, Ezeasor IC, Madu CN (2019) Sustainable production and consumption of paper and paper products in Nigeria: a review. Resources 8(1):53. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources8010053
Feijoo G, Moreira MT (2020) Fostering environmental awareness towards responsible food consumption and reduced food waste in chemical engineering students. Educ Chem Eng 33:27–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ece.2020.07.003
González-Hernández DL, Meijles EW, Vanclay F (2019) Factors that influence climate change mitigation and adaptation action: a household study in the Nuevo Leon region, Mexico. Climate 7(6):74. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli7060074
Hayes AF (2013) Mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis. In: Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: a regression-based approach. The Guilford Press, New York, NY, p 120. Retrieved May 11, 2020, from https://toc.library.ethz.ch
Heidari A, Mirzaii F, Rahnama M, Alidoost F (2020) A theoretical framework for explaining the determinants of food waste reduction in residential households: a case study of Mashhad, Iran. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(7):6774–6784. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06518-8
Jakučionytė-Skodienė M, Dagiliūtė R, Liobikienė G (2020) Do general pro-environmental behaviour, attitude, and knowledge contribute to energy savings and climate change mitigation in the residential sector? Energy 193:116784. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.116784
Jantke K, Hartmann MJ, Rasche L, Blanz B, Schneider UA (2020) Agricultural greenhouse gas emissions: knowledge and positions of German farmers. Land 9(5):130. https://doi.org/10.3390/land9050130
Jeong M, Zhang D, Morgan JC, Ross JC, Osman A, Boynton MH, Mendel JR, Brewer NT (2018) Similarities and differences in tobacco control research findings from convenience and probability samples. Ann Behav Med 53(5):476–485. https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kay059
Kaakinen M, Sirola A, Savolainen I, Oksanen A (2019) Young people and gambling content in social media: an experimental insight. Drug and Alcohol Review, 39(2), 152–161. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13010
Khan F, Ahmed W, Najmi A (2019) Understanding consumers’ behavior intentions towards dealing with the plastic waste: perspective of a developing country. Resour Conserv Recycl 142:49–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.11.020
Kim J, Rundle-Thiele S, Knox K, Burke K, Bogomolova S (2020) Consumer perspectives on household food waste reduction campaigns. J Clean Prod 243:118608. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118608
Kim MJ, Hall CM (2019) Can climate change awareness predict pro-environmental practices in restaurants? Comparing High and Low Dining Expenditure. Sustainability 11(23):6777. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11236777
Knezevic B, Kurnoga N, Anic ID (2019) Typology of university students regarding attitudes towards food waste. Brit Food J 121(11):2578–2591. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-05-2018-0316
Korobeynikov G, Shtanagey D, Ieremenko N, Aksiutin V, Danko T, Danko G, Maximovich N (2020) Evaluation of the speed of a complex visual-motor response in highly skilled female boxers. J Phys Educ Sport 20(4):1734–1739. https://doi.org/10.7752/jpes.2020.04235
Kumar A (2019) Exploring young adults’e-waste recycling behaviour using an extended theory of planned behaviour model: a cross-cultural study. Resour Conserv Recycl 141:378–389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.10.013
La Barbera F, Ajzen I (2020) Control interactions in the theory of planned behavior: rethinking the role of subjective norm. Europe's. J Psychol 16(3):401. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v16i3.2056
Lamb WF, Wiedmann T, Pongratz J, Andrew R, Crippa M, Olivier JG, Minx JC (2021) A review of trends and drivers of greenhouse gas emissions by sector from 1990 to 2018. Environ Res Lett. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abee4e
Lee TM, Markowitz EM, Howe PD, Ko CY, Leiserowitz AA (2015) Predictors of public climate change awareness and risk perception around the world. Nat Clim Change 5(11):1014–1020. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2728
Li X, Zhang D, Zhang T, Ji Q, Lucey B (2021) Awareness, energy consumption and pro-environmental choices of Chinese households. J Clean Prod 279:123734. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123734
Mak TM, Iris KM, Wang L, Hsu SC, Tsang DC, Li CN et al (2019) Extended theory of planned behaviour for promoting construction waste recycling in Hong Kong. Waste Manag 83:161–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2018.11.016
Makanjuola O, Arowosola T, Chenyu D (2020) The utilization of food waste: challenges and opportunities. J Food Chem Nanotechnol 6(4):182–188. https://doi.org/10.17756/jfcn.2020-0100
Manomaivibool P, Chart-asa C, Unroj P (2016) Measuring the impacts of a save food campaign to reduce food waste on campus in Thailand. Appl Environ Res 38(2):13–22. https://doi.org/10.35762/AER.2016.38.2.2
Matsuda T, Yano J, Hirai Y, Sakai SI (2012) Life-cycle greenhouse gas inventory analysis of household waste management and food waste reduction activities in Kyoto, Japan. Int J Life Cycle Assess 17(6):743–752. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0400-4
Mayer A, Smith EK (2019) Unstoppable climate change? The influence of fatalistic beliefs about climate change on behavioural change and willingness to pay cross-nationally. Climate Policy 19(4):511–523. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2018.1532872
McPhetres J, Jong J, Zuckerman M (2020) Religious Americans have less positive attitudes toward science, but this does not extend to other cultures. Soc Psychol Personal Sci 12(4):528–536. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620923239
Moran D, Wood R, Hertwich E, Mattson K, Rodriguez JF, Schanes K, Barrett J (2020) Quantifying the potential for consumer-oriented policy to reduce European and foreign carbon emissions. Climate Policy 20(sup1):S28–S38. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2018.1551186
Nordin NH, Kaida N, Othman NA, Akhir FNM, Hara H (2020) Reducing food waste: strategies for household waste management to minimize the impact of climate change and contribute to Malaysia’s sustainable development. IOP Conf Ser Earth Environ Sci 479(1):012035. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/479/1/012035
Oswald L, Ernst A (2020) Flying in the face of climate change: quantitative psychological approach examining the social drivers of individual air travel. J Sustain Tour 29(1):68–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2020.1812616
Pellegrini G, Sillani S, Gregori M, Spada A (2019) Household food waste reduction: Italian consumers’ analysis for improving food management. British Food Journal. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-07-2018-0425
Ritchie H (2021) Food waste is responsible for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved January 6, 2022, from https://ourworldindata.org/food-waste-emissions
Ritchie H, Roser M (2020) CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions. Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved May 6, 2021, from https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions
Russell SV, Young CW, Unsworth KL, Robinson C (2017) Bringing habits and emotions into food waste behaviour. Resour Conserv Recycl 125:107–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.06.007
Schoofs L, Claeys A-S, De Waele A, Cauberghe V (2019) The role of empathy in crisis communication: providing a deeper understanding of how organizational crises and crisis communication affect reputation. Public Relat Rev 45(5):101851. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2019.101851
Steffen W, Rockström J, Richardson K, Lenton TM, Folke C, Liverman D et al (2018) Trajectories of the Earth system in the Anthropocene. Proc Natl Acad Sci 115(33):8252–8259. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1810141115
Streimikiene D, Lekavičius V, Baležentis T, Kyriakopoulos GL, Abrhám J (2020) Climate change mitigation policies targeting households and addressing energy poverty in European union. Energies 13(13):3389. https://doi.org/10.3390/en13133389
Sultan P, Tarafder T, Pearson D, Henryks J (2020) Intention-behaviour gap and perceived behavioural control-behaviour gap in theory of planned behaviour: moderating roles of communication, satisfaction and trust in organic food consumption. Food Qual Prefer 81:103838. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2019.103838
Szakos D, Szabó-Bódi B, Kasza G (2021) Consumer awareness campaign to reduce household food waste based on structural equation behavior modeling in Hungary. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(19):24580–24589. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09047-x
Thøgersen J (2021) Consumer behavior and climate change: consumers need considerable assistance. Curr Opin Behav Sci 42:9–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.008
Van der Linden S (2017) Determinants and measurement of climate change risk perception, worry, and concern. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Climate Change Communication. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.318
Van der Werf P, Seabrook JA, Gilliland JA (2021) “Reduce food waste, save money”: testing a novel intervention to reduce household food waste. Environ Behav 53(2):151–183. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916519875180
Womick J, Rothmund T, Azevedo F, King LA, Jost JT (2018) Group-based dominance and authoritarian aggression predict support for Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Social Psychological and Personality. Science 10(5):643–652. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618778290
Zainal D, Hassan KA (2019) Factors influencing household food waste behaviour in Malaysia. Int J Res Business, Econ Manag. Retrieved April 10, 2021, from www.ijrbem.com
Zamri GB, Azizal NKA, Nakamura S, Okada K, Nordin NH, Othman N, Hara H (2020) Delivery, impact and approach of household food waste reduction campaigns. J Clean Prod 246:118969. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118969
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
This work is part of the ongoing work approved by JKEUPM in February 2022 and does not involve any procedure that will be harmful to human or animal subjects.
Consent to participate
Participants were given relevant project information, including legal data protection information, in a form they filled out. Participants have the right to ask a question on any part of this study that is not clear. Participants can withdraw from any part of the study if he/she wishes to withdraw.
Consent for publication
We, at this moment, give the Journal of Environmental Science and Pollution Research the right to publish the manuscript if it is accepted.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Nwankwo-Ojionu, C.E., Adzharuddin, N.A., Waheed, M. et al. Impact of climate change awareness on household attitude toward food waste reduction. J Environ Stud Sci 14, 384–399 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-023-00883-0
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-023-00883-0