Emotional profiling for segmenting consumers: The case of household food waste

Following previous studies which show that emotions are a powerful predictor of behaviour, in the current work we explored the potential predictive role of emotions in the case of household food waste. Based on a sample of 183 Italian subjects, we analysed the relationship between a set of emotions towards food waste and the intention to waste. The analysis was carried out in three steps. First, a Principal Component Analysis was performed on emotions in order to synthesise few complex indicators of the way people feel when thinking to food waste. In a second step, a cluster analysis was carried out, based on the PCA components scores, to derive different profiles of individuals as far as their emotions towards food waste are concerned. Third, by means of ANOVA and post-hoc tests differences across groups have been tested with respect to socio-demographic variables and the intention to reduce food waste. Results confirm the link between emotions and intention against food waste and highlight that socio-demographic characteristics are not relevant to affect the emotions’ profile. Emotions allow a meaningful segmentation of consumers, which is not possible to draw using sociodemographic characteristics.