Consumer responses to food conservation and consumption: A psychological conflict approach

This dissertation takes a holistic approach and examines consumer responses to food conservation at both micro- and macro-levels. At the micro-level (Study 1), the causes that contribute to food waste in restaurants are distinctively different from those in household and grocery context. Drawing on the impression management theory and cognitive-experiential self-theory, this study examines the effects of restaurant type (external), commensality (interpersonal), and psychological conflict (intrapersonal) on consumer pro-conservative behaviors. The findings showed that consumers’ intentions to box the food were significantly lower when they ate with their business clients (vs. friends). Moreover, affective ambivalence bears higher predictive power for consumers’ intention to box the unfinished food than that of cognitive ambivalence. This study contributes to the food waste literature by highlighting the role of self-conscious emotions in motivating and regulating pro-conservative behaviors while providing important theoretical and practical implications for the conservative engagement of food consumption. At the macro-level, taking a qualitative research method, Study 2 explores the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on people’s emerging and evolving eating behavioral patterns as well as the potential subsequent pro-conservative behaviors. Drawing on perceived risk theory and emotion regulation theory, the findings of 30 interviews suggest four evolving eating patterns, namely, 1) escapism versus safety seeking, 2) indulgent eating versus health consciousness, 3) impulsive buying versus restrained meal planning, and 4) cooking with both hedonic value and utilitarian value of food. This study provides meaningful extension to the post-pandemic food consumption literature by revealing how pandemic influence people’s eating behaviors. This research also sheds light on how changes in eating habits responded to societal challenges in the pandemic, especially when it comes to respondents’ efforts to understand their eating habits in the context of the pandemic and their attempts to make sense of life by adjusting their food intake.