Sustainable food consumption. Product choice or curtailment?
Food consumption is an important factor in shaping the sustainability of our food supply. The present paper empirically explores different types of sustainable food behaviors. A distinction between sustainable product choices and curtailment behavior has been investigated empirically and predictors of the two types of behavior have been identified. Respondents were classified into four segments based on their sustainable food behaviors: unsustainers, curtailers, product-oriented consumers, and sustainers. Significant differences between the segments were found with regard to food choice motives, personal and social norms, food involvement, subjective knowledge on sustainable food, ability to judge how sustainably a product has been produced and socio-demographics. It is concluded that distinguishing between behavioral strategies toward sustainable food consumption is important as consumer segments can be identified that differ both in their level of sustainable food consumption and in the type of behavior they employ.
Social Sciences Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8130, 6700 EW Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: muriel.verain@wur.nl.
Muriel C D
MC
Verain
Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI), Social Sciences Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 29703, 2502 LS The Hague, The Netherlands.
Hans
H
Dagevos
Social Sciences Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8130, 6700 EW Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Gerrit
G
Antonides
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000383:Agriculture; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D014676:Diet, Vegetarian; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D005523:Food Supply; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D055815:Young Adult
Consumption; Curtailment; Food; Segmentation; Sustainability; Sustainable products