Journal of Environmental Research

Intention to not waste food in Poland: An application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour

Joint Event on 5^th International Conference on Pollution Control and Sustainable Environment & 10^th Edition of International Conference on Water: Pollution, Treatment & Research
March 14-16, 2019 London, UK

Ewelina M Marek-Andrzejewska

Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poland

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Environ Res

Abstract

Statement of the Problem: Consumers are responsible for about 40% of food waste in Europe, wasting about 88 million tons of food annually. Poland is in the top-5 of the most profligate countries in the EU. Therefore, there is a need to conduct research in this field in Poland and reveal the main factors influencing consumer’s intention to waste food. Findings: The presented results are built on the findings of a recent online survey, conducted online via the Survey Monkey tool from the 15th of June to the 31st of October 2018. Among 563 respondents in Poland, 414 filled out the survey completely and only those responses were considered for further analysis in STATA, using the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) based on structural equation modeling and co-variances between latent variables. The CFA was estimated on the basis of the maximum likelihood method. The entire model had a good fit according to the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) equal to 0,054. According to Figure 1, the most essential latent variable influencing “Intention to not waste food” is “Personal attitude” (0,48, p<0,001), meaning that personal believes regarding food waste play an essential role in building the behavioural intention in Poland. In addition, “Financial attitude” and “Perceived behavioural control” are also correlated with “Intention to not waste food”. On the one hand, “Financial attitude”, encompassing perception of a linkage between wasting of food and wasting of money, was positively correlated with “Intention to not waste food” at p<0.05. On the other hand, “Perceived behavioural control” was negatively correlated with “Intention to not waste food” at p<0.001. The latter result reveals that respondents stated having difficulties in avoiding food waste, even though they expressed positive “Intention to not waste food”.

Biography

Ewelina M Marek-Andrzejewska, PhD is Assistant Professor at the Poznań University of Life Sciences (Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences) in Poland. She carries out research in the field of behavioural economics and social innovation in the context of environmental protection and food markets. She is particularly interested in the application of the above scientific fields to the development of public policy. She is an author of high-quality scientific articles, reports for policy-makers and a reviewer for "Sustainable Cities and Society" (Elsevier Publishing). She earned her PhD title from the University of Lyon, at the Transport Economics Laboratory that belongs to the French Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS, corresponding to the Polish PAN). Prior to that, she focused on consumer policy for the OECD and the European Commission. Interests: food waste, behavioural economics, consumer behaviour, decision-making, social sciences, sustainable development, transportation consumer policy, UX design.