Over-ordering and food waste: The use of food delivery apps during a pandemic

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.102977Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Behavioral reasoning theory used to examine association of food delivery apps (FDAs) and food waste.

  • Attitude and trust positively associated with shopping routine on FDAs during COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Trust and price advantage positively associated with attitude.

  • Interface and quality issues paradoxically positively associated with attitude and shopping routine.

  • Hygiene consciousness negatively associated with trust and quality issues.

Abstract

There is a paucity of research on the role of food delivery apps (FDAs) in food waste generation. This gap needs to be addressed since FDAs represent a fast-growing segment of the hospitality sector, which is already considered to be a key food waste generator globally. Even more critically, FDAs have become a prominent source of ordering food during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the growing usage of FDAs warrants an improved understanding of the complexities of consumer behavior toward them, particularly during a health crisis. The present study addresses this need by examining the antecedents of FDA users’ food ordering behavior during the pandemic that can lead to food waste. The study theorizes that hygiene consciousness impacts the enablers and barriers to FDA usage, which, in turn, shape the attitude toward FDAs and the tendency to order more food than required, i.e., shopping routine. The conceptual model, based on behavioral reasoning theory, was tested using data collected from 440 users of FDAs during the pandemic. The results support a positive association of trust and price advantage with attitude, but only of trust with shopping routine. Perceived severity and moral norms did not moderate any associations.

Keywords

Behavioral reasoning theory
Food delivery applications (FDAs)
Food waste
Moral norms
Shopping routine
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Data availability

Data will be made available on request.

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