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Can social media be a tool for reducing consumers’ food waste? A behaviour change experiment by a UK retailer

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  • Young, William
  • Russell, Sally V.
  • Robinson, Cheryl A.
  • Barkemeyer, Ralf

Abstract

This paper reports on a landmark study to field-test the influence of a large retailer to change the behaviour of its millions of customers. Previous studies have suggested that social media interaction can influence behaviour. This study implemented three interventions with messages to encourage reductions in food waste. The first was a social influence intervention that used the retailer’s Facebook pages to encourage its customers to interact. Two additional information interventions were used as a comparison through the retailer’s print/digital magazine and e-newsletter. Three national surveys tracked customers’ self-reported food waste one month before as well as two weeks after and five months after the interventions. The control group included those who said they had not seen any of the interventions. The results were surprising and significant in that the social media and e-newsletter interventions as well as the control group all showed significant reductions in self-reported food waste by customers over the study period. Hence in this field study, social media does not seem to replicate enough of the effect of ‘face-to-face’ interaction shown in previous studies to change behaviour above other factors in the shopping setting. This may indicate that results from laboratory-based studies may over-emphasise the effect of social media interventions.

Suggested Citation

  • Young, William & Russell, Sally V. & Robinson, Cheryl A. & Barkemeyer, Ralf, 2017. "Can social media be a tool for reducing consumers’ food waste? A behaviour change experiment by a UK retailer," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 117(PB), pages 195-203.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:117:y:2017:i:pb:p:195-203
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2016.10.016
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Hannah Barker & Peter J. Shaw & Beth Richards & Zoe Clegg & Dianna Smith, 2021. "What Nudge Techniques Work for Food Waste Behaviour Change at the Consumer Level? A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-18, October.
    3. Barkemeyer, Ralf & Young, C. William & Chintakayala, Phani Kumar & Owen, Anne, 2023. "Eco-labels, conspicuous conservation and moral licensing: An indirect behavioural rebound effect," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(PA).
    4. Zafar, Abaid Ullah & Shen, Jie & Ashfaq, Muhammad & Shahzad, Mohsin, 2021. "Social media and sustainable purchasing attitude: Role of trust in social media and environmental effectiveness," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    5. Wallace, Elaine & Buil, Isabel, 2023. "Antecedents and consequences of conspicuous green behavior on social media: Incorporating the virtual self-identity into the theory of planned behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    6. Papargyropoulou, Effie & Fearnyough, Kate & Spring, Charlotte & Antal, Lucy, 2022. "The future of surplus food redistribution in the UK: Reimagining a ‘win-win’ scenario," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    7. Young, C. William & Russell, Sally V. & Barkemeyer, Ralf, 2017. "Social media is not the ‘silver bullet’ to reducing household food waste, a response to Grainger and Stewart (2017)," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 405-406.
    8. Bocken, Nancy & Konietzko, Jan, 2022. "Circular business model innovation in consumer-facing corporations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    9. Du, Limin & Guo, Jin & Wei, Chu, 2017. "Impact of information feedback on residential electricity demand in China," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 324-334.
    10. Christian Cordes & Joshua Henkel, 2022. "Enhanced "Green Nudging": Tapping the Channels of Cultural Transmission," Bremen Papers on Economics & Innovation 2208, University of Bremen, Faculty of Business Studies and Economics.
    11. Russell, Sally V. & Young, C. William & Unsworth, Kerrie L. & Robinson, Cheryl, 2017. "Bringing habits and emotions into food waste behaviour," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 107-114.

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