City Research Online

Abstract

Food waste is a key environmental policy priority for the Scottish Government, and household food waste contributes a significant proportion of our emissions. Behavioural interventions have proved challenging to implement, and there have been recent suggestions that this is due to a focus on cognitive aspects of behaviour rather than on belief-driven and emotional aspects of behaviour. There may also be wider beliefs and systems of belief which have an impact on food waste behaviour and engagement with food waste interventions. This is the motivation behind this study.
The working definitions of relevant terms such as beliefs, values, and attitudes have been given in Table 3.1 in the main report. A Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) was conducted to assess the breadth of research into beliefs and belief change across disciplines. A detailed description of the methodology (databases used, search terms, disciplines and number of initial papers returned) is included in the main text. Particularly important ideas and concepts that emerged from the REA literature reviewed in depth included:
1. Crises of belief (significant events which challenge previously held beliefs)
2. Social milieu, community, and personal identity as a determining factor in belief and belief change.
3. Generational shifts in beliefs and values.
4. The system of values set out by Schwartz¹ et al was adopted by the project team as an efficient way to compare changes in values across different situations.
In addition to the concepts set out above, the authors considered the following as they were relevant to the research:
5. Thrift and Frugality: These values are different, but both aim to limit consumption and are important parts of how people think about waste and sustainability. They can be linked to a number of Schwartz values.
Research questions
1. How do values and beliefs relate to relevant consumer behaviour?
2. How do values and beliefs related to food waste develop?
3. How do values and beliefs related to food waste change over time?
4. How do thrift and frugality relate to food waste beliefs?
Methods and data collection
An online questionnaire was used to recruit and screen participants and to provide demographic information about them. The questionnaire was run by a third party (Dynata).
74 participants completed semi-structured interviews and were reimbursed, 3 were excluded from the analysis for technical reasons. The full responses are listed in a spreadsheet available from the project team on request. A table summarising the demographic details of the sample can be found in Tables 5.1-5.9 in the full report. The interview guide was designed with considerations taken to prevent a common problem in food waste research, associated with desirability biases around appropriate food waste behaviour. Questions concerned with the detail of participants' lives and beliefs were included in an early section. Food waste and sustainability specific questions and probing around food waste were saved until the final section. To analyse the interview transcripts, inductive and deductive processes were used, using NVIVO. Inductive analysis was used to identify different kinds of events and processes which could contribute to belief change. Deductive analysis, informed by the Schwartz values were used to identify instances of belief change and to identify particular beliefs. Matrix coding was then used to cross reference events and processes with value changes.

Conclusion and recommendations
This research explored how individuals' values and beliefs change over time and the relationship between changes in values and beliefs and perspectives on food waste. The study also considered how individuals reflected on food waste in the context of wider environmental issues and the role of thrift and frugality in shaping people's values and beliefs about food waste.
Missing connections between food waste and the climate crisis/emissions:
Most participants accepted anthropogenic global warming and accepted the need to do something about it, but direct explicit associations between household food waste and emissions were rare.
It was similarly rare for participants to connect food waste to global emissions. Food waste was generally considered a waste treatment problem.
Participants displayed some understanding of systems-level thinking related to other topics like food miles.
Policy-informed approaches to food waste are based on the idea that food waste results in wasted emissions.
Communications that make this link explicit could have success in changing food waste beliefs and behaviour, based on prior engagement of participants with ideas in relation to other topics i.e. food miles.
Life course transitions emerged as the most significant influence and cause of change in values and beliefs in this report, echoing psychological research on belief change.
Life course transitions are periods of change from one period of relatively fixed relationships and responsibilities to another.
In this case, the transition to retirement and the transition from teenage/student years to independent adulthood appeared as the most significant in terms of belief change. The transition to retirement/children moving out may be more impactful in terms of avoiding food waste because of the significance of the change in provisioning involved.
These transitional periods offer a significant opportunity for policy, campaigns, and research to take advantage of belief change processes which are already in progress.
This offers opportunities for updating or contributing to consumer segmentation. This report shows that there may be some value in approaching segmentation with a view to taking into account life course transition periods in which values and beliefs relevant to food waste may change. These periods are similar to the segmentation system proposed by Borg et al³. Key themes for communications strategies for specific groups include:
A move towards self-direction as a focus for communications aimed at age groups 45-70 years old.
o Thrift and achievement as a combined focus for communications aimed at young adult groups (18-30).
Subjectively unpleasant or traumatic life experiences around food may restrict engagement with food waste reduction practices.
. Negative relationships with food due to events in childhood or illness seemed to be fairly common, and they resulted in food waste avoidance being deprioritised. Values informed by life experience and situational priorities also mean that food waste avoidance may be deprioritised. This could be taken into account in segmentation efforts directly.
This report offers insight into the role of Thrift and Frugality as a separate set of related values specifically oriented towards limiting consumption in everyday life.
Thrift and Frugality are deeply involved in regulating other values such as achievement and hedonism in terms of food and consumption behaviour.
Thrift and Frugality operate as key parts of belief systems where the role of humans in the environment is concerned, making it additionally meaningful for food waste reduction.
It might be possible to target consumers motivated by thrift and frugality differently.
Thrifty and Frugal consumers have meaningfully different approaches to consumption, and this means they may be receptive to different messaging content and styles. Further quantitative research could establish criteria for segmentation research.

Publication Type:	Report
Additional Information:	This report has been published by Zero Waste Scotland and it's available online at: https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/resources/understanding-values-and-belief-changes-relation-food-waste-behaviours
Publisher Keywords:	Food waste
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Departments:	School of Health & Medical Sciences School of Health & Medical Sciences > Department of Population Health & Policy
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

Export

Downloads