Abstract:

Food waste is a worldwide problem due to its impacts on carbon emission, water pollution, and arable lands. This study analyzes individual leftover by taking into account personal background (socio-demographic), interaction between individual and social environment (based on the Theory of Planned Behavior) and environmental concern to one’s intention to reduce food leftover. A structural equation model was derived and empirically tested for a sample size of 681 respondent. The empirical results indicated that the attitude and perceived behavioral control were significantly and positively related to the intention of reducing leftover. Meanwhile, relationship between subjective norms, education level, and income level to reduce leftover was significantly negative. Attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control towards the intention to reduce leftover were mediated the effects of consumers’ environmental concern on the intention to reduce leftover. By understanding the influence of interaction between individual and social environment and environmental concern to intention to reduce leftover, it is expected that various stakeholders and interested parties can understand the effective communication to consumers to increase awareness and intention to reduce food leftover on their plate. This is expected to reduce the amount of food waste.