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Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering

ISSN 2095-7505

ISSN 2095-977X(Online)

CN 10-1204/S

Postal Subscription Code 80-906

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Front. Agr. Sci. Eng.
RESEARCH ARTICLE
FACTORS INFLUENCING FOOD-WASTE BEHAVIORS AT UNIVERSITY CANTEENS IN BEIJING, CHINA: AN INVESTIGATION BASED ON THE THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR
Hao FAN, Jingjing WANG(), Xiaotong LU, Shenggen FAN
Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy, College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
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Abstract

● Investigate the actual situation of food waste at university canteens in Beijing, China.

● Analyze the influential factors of student food-waste behavior in university canteens.

● Construct the theoretical model of the factors influencing food waste behavior based on the theory of planned behavior.

● Measure the path coefficients of psychological factors, individual characteristics, and dining factors to food waste behavior.

● Suggest some measures to reduce and prevent food waste at university canteens.

Food waste is a major social problem that contributes to the overutilization of natural resources, affecting economic progress and environmental protection. Food waste occurs throughout the whole process of the food supply chain, especially during the consumption stage. As a special group of consumers, the emerging adults at university may have unique food consumption patterns and their food waste behavior in university canteens deserves more attention. To understand the influential factors of the food-waste behavior of students in university canteens, a field survey was conducted at China Agricultural University canteen with 705 respondents. Based on the theory of planned behavior, this paper examines the influencing factors of student food-waste behavior from three dimensions: sociopsychological factors, individual characteristics and dining factors. The results indicate that the percentage of students who waste food is relatively low, at roughly 27%. Perceived behavior control, gender, monthly living expenses, BMI, mealtime, meal expectations and food portion were significantly correlated with student food-waste behavior, among which perceived behavior control had the most prominent correlation, followed by food portion. Behavioral intention, household location and palatability were not significantly correlated with student food-waste behavior. Therefore, it is necessary to promote publicity and education on reducing food waste on campus, reinforce the administration of the department of support service, and optimize the food portion in the canteen.
Keywords university students      food waste behavior      theory of planned behavior      university canteen     
Corresponding Author(s): Jingjing WANG   
Just Accepted Date: 31 October 2022   Online First Date: 13 January 2023   
 Cite this article:   
Hao FAN,Jingjing WANG,Xiaotong LU, et al. FACTORS INFLUENCING FOOD-WASTE BEHAVIORS AT UNIVERSITY CANTEENS IN BEIJING, CHINA: AN INVESTIGATION BASED ON THE THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR[J]. Front. Agr. Sci. Eng. , 13 January 2023. [Epub ahead of print] doi: 10.15302/J-FASE-2022472.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/10.15302/J-FASE-2022472
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/Y/V/I/0
Fig.1  Research framework.
Variable Definition Abbreviation
Food waste A dummy variable indicates whether the food is wasted or not in this meal. Food waste equals 1 if there is waste; otherwise food waste equals 0 Waste
Individual characteristics
Gender Gender equals 1 if the respondent is male; otherwise, Gender equals 0 Male
Household location Household location equals 1 if the respondent is from the city; otherwise, Household location equals 0 Location
Monthly living expenses Logarithms of monthly living expenses Expense
BMI BMI = weight/height2 (kg·m−2) BMI
Sociopsychological factors
Attitude (AT)[25] Wasting food is bad AT1
Wasting food makes me feel unhappy AT2
Wasting food makes me feel ashamed AT3
Subject norm (SN)[26] Others finish all food on their plate and I try to do the same SN1
Others think people should finish all their food and their opinion is important to me SN2
Others may criticize me if I don’t finish all food, their critics make me feel uncomfortable SN3
Environmental norm (EN)[23] Food waste is an urgent problem for environmental protection EN1
My personal actions have consequences for the environment. This also applies to my handling of food EN2
If I reduce food waste, I contribute to environmental protection EN3
Perceived behavioral control (PBC)[27] It is easy for me to make accurate predictions of how much I would eat when purchasing food PBC1
Finishing all food on my plate is usually easy for me PBC2
I could always finish all food on my plate if I wanted to PBC3
Behavioral intention (BI)[17] I somewhat expect to have leftovers BI1
I generally try not to waste food BI2
The likelihood that I will leave food on my plate in the future BI3
Dining factors
Palatability (PA) The visual appearance of food today (rating from low to high, 1–5) PA1
The smell of food today (rating from low to high, 1–5) PA2
Tasting of food today (rating from low to high, 1–5) PA3
Mealtime My mealtime today is usually long Time
Meal expectation My food choice matches my expectation Expectation
Food portion size The portion size of my food today is too large Portion
Tab.1  Variable definitions
Variable Category Proportion (%)
Gender Male 24.8
Female 75.2
Age (years) 17–20 58.6
21–25 34.0
> 25 7.4
Monthly living expenses (CNY) < 1000 5.8
1000–1999 45.4
2000–2999 37.9
> 3000 10.9
University degree Undergraduate 73.3
Postgraduate 26.7
Household location Urban 62.8
Rural 37.2
Underweight BMI < 18.5 15.9
Normal weight 18.5 ≤ BMI < 24 71.4
Overweight 24 ≤ BMI < 28 11.5
Obese BMI ≥ 28 1.3
Tab.2  Basic statistics of the sample of students (n = 705)
Variable Category Waste No waste
Frequency Proportion (%) Frequency Proportion (%)
Gender Male 19 10.9 156 89.1
Female 171 32.3 359 67.7
University degree Undergraduate 156 30.2 361 69.8
Postgraduate 34 18.1 154 81.9
Household location City 134 30.3 309 69.8
Village 56 21.4 206 78.6
Tab.3  Frequency of students who produce food waste by gender, university degree, and household location
Latent variable Observable variable Cronbach’s α Standardized regression weights KMO Bartlett’s test
Approximate chi-square Significance
Attitude AT1 0.766 0.705 0.627 676.500 0.000
AT2 0.895
AT3 0.869
Subject norm SN1 0.695 0.834 0.624 436.694 0.000
SN2 0.854
SN3 0.679
Environmental norm EN1 0.862 0.866 0.721 1006.122 0.000
EN2 0.911
EN3 0.877
Perceived behavioral control PBC1 0.779 0.750 0.643 683.303 0.000
PBC2 0.897
PBC3 0.851
Behavioral intention BI1 0.529 0.664 0.608 181.456 0.000
BI2 0.740
BI3 0.783
Palatability PA1 0.904 0.917 0.749 1368.673 0.000
PA2 0.929
PA3 0.902
Tab.4  Results of reliability and validity test
Fit index Measure Threshold Estimate Interpretation
Absolute fit index CMIN/DF(NC) 1 < NC < 3 2.953 Acceptable
GFI > 0.8 0.916 Acceptable
AGFI > 0.8 0.891 Acceptable
RMSEA < 0.08 0.053 Acceptable
Incremental fit index IFI > 0.8 0.923 Acceptable
TLI > 0.8 0.907 Acceptable
CFI > 0.8 0.922 Acceptable
Parsimonious fit index PCFI > 0.5 0.769 Acceptable
PNFI > 0.5 0.740 Acceptable
Tab.5  Results of fitness test
Fig.2  Standardized coefficients regression path diagram. *P < 0.1; **P < 0.05; ***P < 0.01. , Significant path; , non-significant path.
Paths specified Standardized coefficient P-value Hypotheses conclusion
AT→BI 0.174 ** 1a supported
SN→BI 0.043 ns 1b unsupported
PBC→BI 0.403 *** 1c supported
EN→BI 0.061 * 1d supported
BI→Waste −0.019 ns 1e unsupported
PBC→Waste −0.251 *** 1c supported
Male→Waste −0.087 *** 2a supported
Location→Waste 0.049 ns 2b unsupported
Expense→Waste 0.087 ** 2c supported
BMI→Waste −0.069 ** 2d supported
PA→Waste −0.050 ns 3a unsupported
Time→Waste −0.065 * 3b supported
Expectation→Waste −0.101 ** 3c supported
Portion→Waste 0.260 *** 3d supported
Tab.6  Results of the structural equation model
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