Understanding beliefs underpinning food waste in the framework of the theory of planned behaviour

This study used a new methodology – the TPB Interview – for studying people’s beliefs about reducing household food waste. The TPB Interview is based on Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour, which maintains that intention is the only direct antecedent of behaviour, and that intention is affected by attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control, which are the main constructs of the theory. The interviews were conducted around three conceptual cores that correspond to those three constructs. A content analysis found several relevant categories which grouped respondents’ beliefs about consequences, normative referents, and control factors related to reducing food waste. In a second step of the analysis, categories have been grouped at a higher level of abstraction in four main themes, namely the rational approach, the moral approach, recycle and reuse, and the feeling of poverty. These themes draw a clear picture of the beliefs connected to the reducing of food waste.