Abstract
Food waste has become a major concern for both food providers and consumers alike. While efforts have been made to avoid food waste along the food supply chain, more recent focus has been placed on reducing food waste in households. While food waste in households is a predominantly consumer research related topic, service researchers have now also become more aware of the importance of addressing such issue. The field of Transformative Service Research (TSR), a novel domain at the intersection of service research and wellbeing research, has paid very little attention to this topic. This is surprising given the fact that transformative services aim at enhancing and uplifting wellbeing of individuals, collectives, communities, nations, and the environment. Moreover, more recently TSR scholars have expanded their scope to contribute to addressing the 17 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) through services. The present study aims at closing this gap and addresses SDG 3 – Good Health and Wellbeing, SDG 12 – Responsible Production and Consumption and indirectly SDG 2 – Zero Hunger. It particularly centres on younger consumer segments, that is, Gen Zers, who have been identified as causing significant amounts of food waste. While there is awareness amongst Gen Z consumers in regard to the necessity to avoid food waste, their subsequent behaviour does not coincide with such awareness. This is where this research project aims at developing a transformative service which enables Gen Z to better redistribute surplus food generated in their households.
Presenters
Joerg FinsterwalderProfessor of Marketing, Management, Marketing and Tourism, University of Canterbury, Canterbury, New Zealand
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Food Production and Sustainability
KEYWORDS
Food Waste, Food Redistribution, Transformative Service Research, Circular Food Economy
