Healthy lifestyle and food waste behavior

Elisabetta Savelli
Department of Economics, Society and Politics, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy, and
Barbara Francioni and Ilaria Curina
Department of Communication Sciences, Humanities and International Studies. Cultures, Languages, Literatures, Arts, Media,
University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy

Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to address the food waste phenomenon by investigating the relationship between healthy lifestyle and food waste
intensity and by considering the mediating role of food waste preventing behavior on such a relationship.
Design/methodology/approach – Based on an online survey of 1,941 UK millennial consumers, the research hypotheses were tested using the
PLS-PM approach to structural equation model.
Findings – The results reveal that both the consumption of healthy food and the habit of eating at home enhance food waste reduction. Moreover,
the findings corroborate the mediating effect of the food waste preventing behavior on the relationship between a healthy lifestyle and food waste
intensity, thus underlying its role as an effective mechanism able to improve the influence of healthy lifestyle dimensions on food waste intensity.
Practical implications – The paper offers three levels of practical implications directed to public institutions, private manufacturers and retailers.
Social implications – The study underlines the key relevance of ad hoc educational programs aimed at improving the overall awareness of young
consumers about food waste damages, by specifically identifying the main features on which these programs should focus.
Originality/value – This paper adds knowledge by helping to explain how and why a healthier lifestyle could translate into food waste reduction.
Moreover, the study offers a comprehensive understanding of preventing behavior by proposing a rich overview of strategies to adopt to avoid food
waste.
Keywords Healthy food, Food waste, Food lifestyle, Food prevention, Meals patterns
Paper type Research paper

Introduction By recognizing the significance of the food waste problem

Food waste is globally recognized as a thoughtful issue that has
moved up the political agendas of both institutions and
governments over the past decade (Defra, 2011; Donovan and
Pickin, 2013). About one-third of the food produced for human
consumption is wasted worldwide. Europe, in particular,
contributes to the phenomenon with around 88 million tons of
food wasted annually, with associated costs estimated at
e143bn. Therefore, measures to reduce food waste have been
increasingly recommended over the past years (HLPE, 2014;
Roodhuyzen et al., 2017) and appear further needed in light of
future estimations (Fusions, 2016). Thus, research on food
waste prevention and management still deserves particular
consideration.
Recently, Roodhuyzen and colleagues (2017) pointed out an
important gap concerning the research into causal mechanisms
of food waste, especially at the household level. Moreover,
another gap that emerges from earlier research concerns the
topic of food waste prevention, including all the activities that
avoid waste generation (Papargyropoulou et al., 2014).
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/0736-3761.htm
and given the above research gaps, this study aims to address
the food waste phenomenon by focusing on both its
antecedents and preventing behavior in the final stage of the
supply chain.
More in detail, drivers and reasons for food waste generation
have been examined by exploring the individual lifestyle.
Indeed, food waste behavior is complex in nature, being the
result of both socio-demographic characteristics and personal
attitudes of consumers (Quested et al., 2013). Thus, the lifestyle
seems to be particularly fitting, as it derives from several
individual’s activities, interests and opinions (Plummer, 1974).
Notably, the present work investigates the concept of healthy
lifestyle, which is largely examined for its impact on healthy food
choices and habits, as well as for its role in preventing chronic
diseases (Gadais et al., 2018). Moreover, recent literature
highlights the increasing importance of this market segment,
forecasting a significant growth for the next years, thus
underlying that it could make a difference to reducing waste
(Technavio, 2018). As, to the best of our knowledge, very few
studies (Roodhuyzen et al., 2017) have examined the possible
relationship between healthy lifestyle and food waste intensity,
our attention has been focused on this concept, with the
purpose to understand whether the adoption of a well-being-
oriented lifestyle could be critical for food waste minimization.

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Received 8 October 2018
37/2 (2020) 148–159 Revised 30 May 2019
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 0736-3761] 11 September 2019
[DOI 10.1108/JCM-10-2018-2890] Accepted 14 September 2019

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 Healthy lifestyle
Elisabetta Savelli, Barbara Francioni and Ilaria Curina
Regarding the prevention issue, prior studies revealed that it
should be particularly focused on the retail and consumption
stages where the most significant amount of food waste is
generated (Parfitt et al., 2010). However, this topic has been
scarcely investigated by the literature (Quested et al., 2013;
WRAP, 2013). Once more, the results are fragmented and,
sometimes, contradictory, thus suggesting the need for more
comprehensive analyses.
The setting of this study is the household level because
consumers are significant contributors to food waste (HLPE,
2014). Notably, the present study looks at young people aged
between 18 and 35 years, as they are considered the segment of
the population most inclined to waste food (FAO, 2011;
European Commission, 2014).
Overall, the research provides further insights into the
literature on food waste management and prevention by adding
two main contributions. First, it puts healthy lifestyle among
the antecedents of food waste, thus stressing the behavioral
perspective. Second, this study focuses the attention on food
waste prevention behavior. In detail, the research: proposes a
broader discussion of the construct, compared to earlier
studies; considers preventing activities that can occur along
different stages of the consumption and purchase process;
analyzes the role of prevention as both an antecedent and an
outcome of healthy lifestyle; and investigates the role of
preventing activities on the relationship between food lifestyle
and food waste, thus providing insights into the mechanisms
behind such a relationship.
The rest of the paper is structured as follows. First, it
presents a review of the literature along with hypotheses
development. Second, it illustrates the research’s methodology
and describes the results. Finally, it presents the discussion of
results, the main conclusions and a summary of theoretical and
managerial implications.
Theoretical background and hypotheses
Household food waste intensity
There is no general consensus about the definition of food
waste. Scholars provided different conceptualizations based on
food waste nature and composition, as well as on its position
within the supply chain (Ponis et al., 2017). At the European
Union (EU) level, one of the most cited definition is that of the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 1981), which
underlines the role of the entire supply chain in producing food
waste as it covers all the food lifecycle.
Because consumers are considered the main cause of food
waste in developed countries (FAO, 2011; Ponis et al., 2017),
the present study focuses on food waste created at the
household level, whose value has been estimated, for Europe,
equal to 123 kg/capita annually in 2015 (Vanham et al., 2015.
These data are worrying in light of severe ethical, economical
and environmental consequences related to this phenomenon
(FAO, 2011; HLPE, 2014; Ponis et al., 2017; Roodhuyzen
et al., 2017).
Therefore, food waste minimization has been progressively
considered a key priority, by receiving growing attention among
governments, firms, non-governmental organizations as well as
academics from different disciplinary fields (Roodhuyzen et al.,
2017; Schanes et al., 2018).
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Notably, prior research (Principato et al., 2015) highlighted
the need to develop a good understanding of factors influencing
the amount of food wasted by consumers as an important step
for fostering effective and efficient food waste minimization
practices (Graham-Rowe et al., 2015). In this respect, recent
studies (Roodhuyzen et al., 2017; Schanes et al., 2018)
attempted to map the factors influencing food waste through
systematic literature reviews. Among the personal factors,
Roodhuyzen and colleagues (2017) classified a subcategory
related to lifestyle, which is usually considered as a predictor of
both food patterns (Roos et al, 1998) and the overall consumers’
attitudes and behaviors (He et al., 2010; Qing et al., 2012).
Several authors (Parizeau et al., 2015; Hebrok and Boks, 2017)
found a positive relationship between household lifestyles and food
waste production. Nevertheless, prior studies’ findings are often
different and even conflicting. For example, Desa et al. (2011)
demonstrated that modern lifestyles lead to more acute waste
problems, while other authors, who specifically focused on the
concept of sustainable lifestyle (Gutiérrez-Barba and Ortega-
Rubio, 2013), revealed that sustainable attitudes tend to imply
both less consumption and food waste. Anyway, lifestyle
influences food waste practices (Hebrok and Boks, 2017).
Therefore, the present study focuses on lifestyle, and more
specifically on healthy lifestyle factors, which can be associated
with food waste minimization.
Preventing behavior toward food waste
According to the European Waste Framework Directive, 2008
(Article 3, Clause 12), food waste prevention can be defined as
all the “measures taken before a substance, material, or product
has become waste.” In the academic field, food waste
prevention has been scarcely investigated (Quested et al., 2013;
WRAP, 2013; Roodhuyzen et al., 2017). Moreover, researchers
mainly put the attention on single actions, such as food labeling
(Milne, 2013) and technological improvements in packaging
(Williams et al., 2012). Other behavioral characteristics related
to consumption culture have been considered, such as over-
preparation and over-serving (Wansink and Van Ittersum,
2013), as they increase the likelihood to throw away excess
food.
By focusing on the youth segment, Mondéjar–Jiménez and
colleagues (2016) identified three main actions for preventing
food waste, namely, consuming household leftovers,
understanding the date-labels on food and planning food
purchases. In detail, leftovers are usually recognized as one of
the main reasons for discarding food (Williams et al., 2012).
Therefore, investigating strategies to recover and reuse food
could certainly mitigate the waste phenomenon (Quested et al.,
2013; WRAP, 2013). Similarly, the ability to check food stocks
prior to shopping and to follow a shopping list can reduce the
probability that food becomes spoiled and is thrown away
(Mondéjar-Jiménez et al., 2016). Finally, the attention toward
date-labels could help consumers to make more informed food
purchases and consumption (Mirghotbi and Pourvali, 2013).
Given the importance of food waste prevention and the little
attention devoted to this topic (Quested et al., 2013; WRAP,
2013), this study investigates positive behaviors toward food
waste to provide additional information supporting national and
local programs aimed at addressing the food waste problem.
Starting from the categorization of preventing actions proposed
 Healthy lifestyle
Elisabetta Savelli, Barbara Francioni and Ilaria Curina
by Mondéjar–Jiménez and colleagues (2016), the first research
hypothesis is proposed as follows:
H1. Actions preventing food waste reduce the intensity of
food waste.
Healthy lifestyle
Plummer (1974, p. 35) defined consumer lifestyle as “a unique
style of living based on a wide range of activities, interests, and
opinions.”
Prior studies highlighted that an in-depth examination of the
individual lifestyle is very important for developing marketing
strategies (Qing et al., 2012).
During the years, there were several attempts for measuring
the different dimensions of lifestyle, such as VALS program
(Kahle et al., 1986) and PRIZM system (Englis and Solomon,
1995). Further studies, specifically focused on the food sector,
paid great attention to the concept of healthy lifestyle, which is
considered as an orientation toward the maximization of
personal well-being and the prevention of healthy problems
(Divine and Lepisto, 2005; Kim and Chung, 2011).
Research on this topic has led to several initiatives aimed at
encouraging healthy lifestyles in health-friendly environments
(Gadais et al., 2018). Moreover, a lot of attention has been
addressed to identify the main predictors of healthy lifestyle
(Divine and Lepisto, 2005), its outcomes (Gadais et al., 2018)
as well as its impact on the marketplace, especially with
reference to the food industry (Divine and Lepisto, 2005) and
dietary supplements (Miles Homer and Mukherjee, 2018).
Overall, it emerges that the growth of healthy lifestyles concerns
different health-related industries and countries, thus resulting
in new business opportunities (Yap and Othman, 2010).
However, very few studies analyzed the possible influence of
a healthy lifestyle on food waste intensity. Among them,
Roodhuyzen and colleagues (2017) identified three elements of
personal lifestyle, which can be related to healthy lifestyle,
namely, the unpredictability of food habits, purchasing food
with the intention to eat healthily and eating out regularly.
Unpredictability of food habits
The unpredictability of food habits is due to unplanned events
occurring in the household, which imply that purchased food is
not adequately consumed and run past before its expiry date
(Roodhuyzen et al., 2017).
Previous studies (Stefan et al., 2013; Stancu et al., 2016)
emphasized the importance of household food-related routines
in comprehending such phenomenon, but very less attention
was focused on meals’ regularity. Actually, this topic still
deserves great attention because it is critical for the long-term
well-being and personal health (Sjoberg et al., 2003; Giesen
and Simon, 2018).
Based on the above, this study examines meals’ regularity as
a component of predictable food habits. This topic is
particularly interesting within the young segment because it has
been often associated with irregular meals’ practices (Larson
et al., 2009).
To the best of our knowledge, no studies examined the
specific relationship between meals’ regularity and food waste
intensity. However, because healthy lifestyle has been
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associated with food waste reduction (Gutiérrez-Barba and
Ortega-Rubio, 2013), it is likely to suppose that also meals’
regularity – as a part of healthy lifestyle – may act as a limiting
factor of food waste intensity.
Thus, the second research hypothesis is postulated as
follows:
H2. Regular breakfast, lunch and dinner eating habits
negatively affect the food waste intensity.
Healthy food consumption
Healthy food consumption is another expression of healthy
lifestyle (Schanes et al., 2018), and several studies highlighted
the increasing demand for healthy food, also by young people
(Rezai et al., 2012; Savelli et al., 2019).
However, buying healthy food does not necessarily result in
its consumption, as it can generate a quantity of perishable food
(Schanes et al., 2018). In this regard, prior research
demonstrated a positive connection between healthy food
consumption and food waste intensity (WRAP, 2013; Graham-
Rowe et al., 2014; Schanes et al., 2018). In spite of these
empirical evidences, it could be reasonable to suppose that
eating healthy food could reduce the amount of food waste.
This is because it is usually fresher and more expensive than
unhealthy food (Kettings et al., 2009) and, once purchased, it
tends to be consumed more carefully in time. Moreover,
because healthy food has been related not only to weight loss,
but also to parents and being at home (Chapman and Maclean,
1993), one might expect that its consumption is associated with
regular meals and habits of eating at home, which can act as
factors minimizing food waste. However, these assumptions
need further demonstration. Thus, the next hypothesis is
proposed as follows:
H3. The consumption of healthy food negatively influences
the food waste intensity.
Habits of eating out of home
Eating out of home is another important aspect of the
individual lifestyle.
This phenomenon intensively increased over the past 50
years (Foodiestrip, 2019), in line with some emerging trends in
consumer patterns and lifestyles, such as the need to better
organize and optimize the work–life balance.
Millennials, in particular, eat out more often than others,
regardless of their income and household composition
(Roseman et al., 2017; Foodiestrip, 2019). This represents an
opportunity to meet friends after work without having to
prepare meals and, consequently, to manage the reorganization
operations (Foodiestrip, 2019).
Prior research found a negative relationship between eating
out and both healthy food behavior (Chan et al., 2009) and
food waste intensity (Parizeau et al., 2015; Ponis et al., 2017).
Indeed, the more people order or eat out, the less they have
household food skills, including the ability to re-use leftovers or
regularly checking the food storage, which in turn can lead to
food waste (Chenhall, 2010).
 Healthy lifestyle
Elisabetta Savelli, Barbara Francioni and Ilaria Curina
Based on the above assumptions, it is reasonable to assume
that eating out can contribute to the creation of excess food
waste. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed:
H4. The propensity to consume daily meals at home
negatively influences the food waste intensity.
The mediating role of food waste preventing behavior
The above hypotheses suggest that a healthy lifestyle, as well as
preventing actions, can lead to a reduction of the food waste
intensity (Gutiérrez-Barba and Ortega-Rubio, 2013;
Mondéjar-Jiménez et al., 2016).
However, this study also argues that food waste preventing
behavior can act as a mediator on the relationship between
healthy lifestyle and food waste intensity, based on the
assumption that preventing behaviors could be considered both
antecedents of food waste minimization and potential
outcomes of healthy lifestyle.
Preventing actions can contribute to food waste
minimization because they imply some practices such as good
in-store behaviors (Stefan et al., 2013), accurate food storage
and preservation (Zepeda and Balaine, 2017) and good abilities
in preparing and consuming meals (Papargyropoulou et al.,
2014).
Similarly, a positive relationship between healthy lifestyle
and actions preventing food waste can be supposed. In detail,
meals’ regularity is likely to be a good antecedent of preventing
behaviors, as eating daily meals at regular times could enhance
the individual ability to re-use leftovers, to plan the food
shopping as well as to check the food stocks and relative expiry
dates.
The positive attitude toward healthy food can be further
associated with the adoption of food waste preventing
measures, as it results in specific practices (Scott et al., 2008),
which could imply a high care toward expiry dates as well as a
careful planning of food shopping and consumption.
Finally, habits of eating at home can affect the adoption of a
food waste preventing behavior because it encourages a positive
attitude toward the re-use of leftovers and meals planning, as
well as higher attention toward food packages and labels.
All these assumptions, to the best of our knowledge, have not
been explicitly addressed in the literature, thus being worth for
a deeper investigation. Therefore, this study presents the
following hypotheses:
H5. Regular breakfast, lunch and dinner eating habits are
positively related to actions preventing food waste.
H6. The consumption of healthy food is positively related to
actions preventing food waste.
H7. The propensity to consume daily meals at home is
positively related to actions preventing food waste.
Based on the above expectations, an indirect influence of
healthy lifestyle on food waste intensity can be proposed,
because the direct relationship could be mediated by food
waste preventing behaviors. This suggests that a healthy
lifestyle per se is not a sufficient condition for reducing food
waste, as it depends on the consumers’ adoption of preventive
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practices. Consequently, the last research’s hypothesis results
as follows:
H8. Actions preventing food waste mediate the relationship
between healthy lifestyle and food waste intensity.
Figure 1 depicts the overall model under investigation, with the
research hypotheses.
Methodology
Sample and data collection
A sample of UK millennials (Kilian et al., 2012) has been
selected for several reasons.
First, it represents one of the most crucial markets for many
businesses (Muniady et al., 2014). Moreover, although
millennials are considered an influential consumer group, their
behaviors are not fully understood, and the authors highlighted
that more research is needed (Taken Smith, 2012; Valentine
and Powers, 2013).
Second, although millennials have been considered as one of
the most receptive groups toward environmental issues (Bucic
et al., 2012), studies highlighted their greater inclination to
waste food in comparison to older generations (Quested et al.,
2013; Stefan et al., 2013; Stancu et al., 2016; Hebrok and Boks,
2017).
Finally, the UK millennials have been chosen for their strong
attitude to food waste, which currently represents a significant
problem needing for improvement measures (Graham-Rowe
et al., 2014).
The online questionnaire was administrated from January to
September 2017. A total of 1,941 individuals, between 18 and
35 years, correctly completed the questionnaire. Even if the
sample composition does not fully reflect the parent
population, the application of the Brasini et al. (2002) formula
(1) allows to confirm the statistically significance of the sample,
at least, at the time of data collecting:
Z2 a=2N 1:962 x 15598258
n¼ ¼
4ðN  1Þu 2 1 Z2 a=2 4 ð15598258  1Þx 0:052 1 1:962
¼ 384:15 ¼ 384
(1)
In detail, n is the necessary sample size, Z2a/2 is the confidence
level which was considered at 95 per cent (coefficient = 1.96
according to the tables of the standard normal distribution),
N = population size (according to the Office for National
Figure 1 Hypothesized model
 Healthy lifestyle
Elisabetta Savelli, Barbara Francioni and Ilaria Curina
Statistics in UK in 2017, there were 15,598,258 people aged
between 18 and 35 years) and finally, u is the margin of error (5
per cent).
Table I shows a general description of the sample.
Measures
Appendix illustrates the variables specified in the model, along
with their indicators and their main references.
All variables were measured through multi-item scales,
except for EATHOME that was measured through a single
item, as suggested by McCarthy and Liu (2017).
Items for measuring HEALTHYFOOD were adapted from
Divine and Lepisto (2005). We only focused on food and diet-
related factors, thus excluding the intention to engage in a
regular exercise program.
About REGULARITY, it has been measured through three
items related to the main daily meals (breakfast, lunch and
dinner), as suggested by Sjoberg et al. (2003).
Following previous studies (Visschers et al., 2016; Ponis
et al., 2017), FOODWASTE was measured by assessing how
much food is generally discarded (i.e. frequency of food waste).
Responses were based on eight items, considering specific
foods selected from the original list provided by Mondéjar–
Jiménez and colleagues (2016). Rice was added, as it is
increasingly used in the UK diet as an alternative to pasta and
other cereals (Whitton et al., 2011).
Finally, PREVENTION was evaluated on a three-item scale
following Mondéjar–Jiménez et al.’s (2016) classification of
positive practices contrasting the food waste at a household
level.
Process analysis
The empirical analysis was carried out through a structural
equation model, based on a partial least squares path modeling
(PLS-PM) approach (Hair et al., 2014b).
First, the PLS-PM approach was used to assess the overall
model’s reliability and validity, showing the relationships
between the investigated constructs and the related indicators
(measurement model). Second, it was applied to analyze the
Table I Sample profile (percentage values)
Age (years)
18-21
22-25
26-30
31-35
Education
High school diploma
Bachelor’s degree
Master’s degree
PhD or doctorate
Profession
Student
Worker
Unemployed
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structural relationships between the specified constructs (inner
model).
Latent variables (LVs) were measured reflectively in terms of
the corresponding attributes.
The analysis was performed using R software (version 3.5.0),
following Hair et al.’s (2014b) guidelines.
Results
Evaluations of the measurement model
The structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was firstly
aimed at assessing the reliability as well as the convergent and
discriminant validity of the investigated constructs. As for
reliability, it was estimated by computing the Cronbach’s a (for
internal consistency) and the composite reliability (CR) of each
construct (Table II).
The a values were greater than the threshold of 0.70
(Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994) for PREVENTION and
FOODWASTE, and lower than 0.70 for REGULARITY and
HEALTHYFOOD. However, as suggested by Chin (1998),
the construct reliability of the model can be regarded as
satisfactory because the CR was always greater or
approximately equal to 0.70 (Hair et al., 2014b).
Tests for internal consistency, if one item is dropped from
the respective LVs, revealed that all the items are consistent
with their construct. Inter-item correlations were between 0.20
and 0.70 for all the LVs, indicating that while the items are
measuring the same underlying characteristic, they contain
sufficiently unique variance. Moreover, the loading values for
each item with its intended LVs were greater than 0.70
(Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). Few strategic indicators with
outer loadings between 0.40 and 0.70 were retained after
checking that the values of CR or average variance extracted
(AVE) would not be increased after their elimination
(Hair et al., 2014b).
The validity of the model was assessed by focusing on
convergent and discriminant validity (Fornell and Larcker, 1981),
which were both satisfied (Tables II-III).
The structural model
The second step of SEM analysis investigated the estimated
parameters of the inner model to test the research hypotheses
(Table IV).
(%) The relationship between PREVENTION and
FOODWASTE is negative, meaning that the adoption of
preventing behaviors leads to a reduction in food waste
12.5
intensity (H1).
23.8
As concerning the food lifestyle, HEALTHYFOOD has a
30.7
negative impact on FOODWASTE, suggesting that
33.0
consumers who are particularly careful about what they eat
are also food waste saving (H3). Similarly, the greater the
58.5 propensity to eat at home, the lower the intensity of food
30.9 waste is (H4), denoting that the consumption of daily meals
9.4 at home represents a good practice against the food waste.
1.2 Surprisingly, REGULARITY has no significant impact on
FOODWASTE (H2).
16.9 The hypothesized relationships between healthy lifestyle and
59.0 PREVENTION are well supported.
24.1 HEALTHYFOOD positively influences PREVENTION
(H6). This means that people who put high attention on
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Table II Measurement model

Loadings a CR AVE Inter-items correlation
PREVENTION 1.019 0.719 0.721 0.464 P1 P2 P3
P1 0.859 P1 1.00
P2 1.018 P2 0.50 1.00
P3 P3 0.50 0.39 1.00
Determinant of correlation: 0.547
FOODWASTE 0.664 0.887 0.889 0.506 W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8
W1 0.551 W1 1.00
W2 0.778 W2 0.40 1.00
W3 0.800 W3 0.59 0.47 1.00
W4 0.667 W4 0.55 0.50 0.62 1.00
W5 0.702 W5 0.39 0.50 0.50 0.71 1.00
W6 0.571 W6 0.50 0.48 0.55 0.65 0.57 1.00
W7 0.562 W7 0.32 0.45 0.40 0.50 0.54 0.53 1.00
W8 W8 0.34 0.46 0.43 0.48 0.49 0.53 0.60 1.00
Determinant of correlation: 0.203
REGULARITY 0.892 0.601 0.619 0.570 R1 R2 R3
R1 0.413 R1 1.00
R2 0.775 R2 0.26 1.00
R3 R3 0.48 0.29 1.00
Determinant of correlation: 0.692
HEALTHYFOOD 0.736 0.663 0.697 0.546 CS1 CS2 CS3
HF1 0.831 CS1 1.00
HF2 0.464 CS2 0.64 1.00
HF3 CS3 0.28 0.30 1.00
Determinant of correlation: 0.531
EATHOME 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.000 EH
EH1 EH 1.00
Notes: Comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.903; (>0.90: Hu and Bentler, 1995) Root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.069 (<0.08: Browne and
Cudeck, 1992) Standardized root-mean-square residual (SRMR) = 0.049 (< 0.05: Hu and Bentler, 1995)

Table III Construct correlation and discriminant validity

PREVENTION WASTE REGULARITY HEALTHYFOOD EATHOME
PREVENTION 0.681
WASTE –0.373 0.711
REGULARITY 0.325 –0.115 0.755
HEALTHYFOOD 0.393 –0.197 0.496 0.739
EATHOME 0.215 –0.224 –0.063 0.082 1.000

Note: Italic values indicate the square root of AVE

food healthy properties tend to pursue not only a healthy
lifestyle, but an overall sustainable lifestyle, giving
attention to their wellness as much as to the environmental
protection and safety, and thus developing actions aimed at
reducing their food waste intensity. PREVENTION is also
improved by EATHOME (H7), thus people who prefer to
consume meals at home show great abilities in planning
food purchases, reusing leftovers and managing food
before its expiry date or deterioration. Finally,
REGULARITY positively influences PREVENTION
(H5). Thus, even if food waste is not affected by consuming
regular meals, this practice is positively associated with
good behaviors in terms of planning and using purchased
foods.
The bootstrapping procedure confirmed the statistical
significance of path estimations for all the significant
relationships (Efron and Tibshirani, 1994).
Mediation analysis
In this study, the mediating role of PREVENTION was
investigated through the PLS-PM approach, by developing
three steps (Baron and Kenny, 1986; Hair et al., 2014a).
The first step requires to exclude the mediator variable from the
PLS-PM model, by considering only direct effects between latent
variables. As shown in Table V, REGULARITY significantly
affects PREVENTION, as well as HEALTHYFOOD and
EATHOME do. On the other hand, FOODWASTE is

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Table IV Structural model estimation

Standard Lower and upper bound of 95%
Hypothesis path Coefficient error t-value bootstrap confidence interval
PREVENTION fi FOODWASTE –0.207 0.022 –9.360 –0.251 –0.164
REGULARITYfi FOODWASTE 0.009 0.026 0.360 –0.042 0.060
HEALTHYFOOD fi FOODWASTE –0.060 0.031 –1.957 –0.120 0.030
EATHOME fi FOODWASTE –0.107 0.017 –6.152 –0.140 –0.073
REGULARITY fi PREVENTION 0.229 0.044 5.218 0.143 0.315
HEALTHYFOOD fi PREVENTION 0.383 0.051 7.475 0.282 0.483
EATHOME fi PREVENTION 0.225 0.028 8.010 0.170 0.280
Indirect effect 1: REGULARITY fi PREVENTION fi FOODWASTE –0.048 0.010 –4.578 –0.068 –0.027
Indirect effect 2: HEALTHYFOODfi PREVENTION fi FOODWASTE –0.079 0.013 –6.005 –0.105 –0.053
Indirect effect 3: EATHOME fi PREVENTION fi FOODWASTE –0.047 0.008 –6.203 –0.061 –0.032
Notes: Paths in italic represent statistical significant effects. t-value significance: >1.65 (p-value < 0.10 ), >1.96 (p-value < 0.05 ), >2.58 (p-value <
0.01 )

Table V Estimated direct effects when excluding the potential mediator “intention”
Relationship Coefficient Standard error t-value Lower and upper bound of 95% bootstrap confidence interval
REGULARITY fi PREVENTION 0.233 0.045 5.232 0.146 0.320
HEALTHYFOOD fi PREVENTION 0.395 0.052 7.644 0.294 0.497
EAT HOME fi PREVENTION 0.227 0.028 7.961 0.171 0.282
REGULARITY fi FOODWASTE –0.047 0.026 –1.831 –0.092 0.003
HEALTHYFOOD fi FOODWASTE –0.148 0.030 –4.923 –0.207 –0.089
EATHOME fi FOODWASTE –0.152 0.017 –8.826 –0.185 –0.118

significantly influenced only by HEALTHYFOOD and
EATHOME.
Thus, in the second step, the mediating effect of
REGULARITY was excluded.
After including the mediator in the model estimation, the
significance of the indirect effects was tested, and indirect
effects’ values were compared with direct effects’ ones
(Table VI). Both the indirect effects of HEALTHYFOOD and
EATHOME on FOODWASTE were significant. This means
that PREVENTION mediates both the relationship
HEALTHYFOOD–FOODWASTE and the relationship
EATHOME–FOODWASTE.
To assess the extent of mediation, Hair et al. (2014a)
suggested the use of variance accounted for (VAF), which
estimates the proportion of the direct effect of the
independent variable on the dependent variable that is
absorbed by the mediator. The results indicate that
PREVENTION plays the role of partial mediation on both
the relationships between HEALTHYFOOD and
FOODWASTE and EATHOME and FOODWASTE
(Hair et al., 2014b). Notably, about 57 per cent of the effect
of HEALTHYFOOD on FOODWASTE is explained via
PREVENTION, while 30 per cent of the effect of
EATHOME on FOODWASTE is explained via the
mediator. It means that people, who prefer to consume
healthy foods and to eat at home, pay attention to the food
waste problem probably because they are concerned about
the overall issue of environmental and social effects of food
waste. However, the influence of such habits becomes
relevant when individuals show a correct attitude toward
food waste, in terms of planning and managing food.
Discussion and implications
The results demonstrate that food waste preventing behaviors
are negatively related to food waste intensity, as previously
shown in the extant literature (Quested et al., 2013; WRAP,
2013). Although it seems quite an obvious result, this study
proposes a more comprehensive identification of preventing
actions, which suggests a richer understanding of behaviors that

Table VI Comparison between direct and indirect effects and mediator effect assessment
Direct effect without the Direct effect with
Relationship mediator (= total effect) Indirect effect the mediator VAF Mediating role of PREVENTION
  
HEALTHYFOOD fi FOOD WASTE –0.148 –0.079 –0.060 0.5683 Partial mediation
EATHOME fi FOODWASTE –0.152 –0.047 –0.107 0.3052 Partial mediation

Note: VAF = indirect effect/total effect 100

154
 Healthy lifestyle
Elisabetta Savelli, Barbara Francioni and Ilaria Curina
could be changed to avoid food waste before it is generated
(Papargyropoulou et al., 2014).
The attention toward healthy food is also relevant for
reducing food waste. By demonstrating this relationship, our
study adds knowledge to a debated issue, placing itself in
contrast with recent studies, claiming that the consumption of
healthy food usually leads to higher wastage (WRAP, 2013;
Graham-Rowe et al., 2014; Schanes et al., 2018). Indeed, the
findings reveal that eating healthy food enhances food waste
reduction, and this mainly occurs when consumers are moved
by responsible behaviors aimed at preventing food waste.
Therefore, the combination of healthy food consumption and
food waste prevention seems to be critical to avoid food waste
generation.
Similarly, people who usually eat at home tend to produce
less food waste, as recognized in prior researches (Chenhall,
2010; Parizeau et al., 2015; Ponis et al., 2017). Moreover, our
findings reveal that eating at home enhances the adoption of
preventing behaviors toward food waste, as previously
demonstrated by Chenhall (2010). Meanwhile, it emerges that
the positive influence of eating at home on food waste is
improved when consumers implement preventing actions.
Therefore, eat-at-home practices combined with food waste
preventing ones are critical for food waste reduction.
Finally, about meals’ regularity, the findings reveal no
significant relationships between such variable and food waste
intensity. This result rejects our hypothesis. However, the study
displays that meals’ regularity is positively related to the adoption
of food waste preventing behavior, thus being important for
enhancing good practices that can avoid food waste before its
generation. Hence, meals’ regularity is indirectly related to food
waste reduction, as it helps to prevent it.
Several implications can be drawn from the above discussion,
both theoretically and practically.
From a theoretical standpoint, this study provides insights
into the knowledge of food waste prevention and reduction by
adding different contributions.
First, it analyzes the antecedents of food waste, while
previous literature was both fragmented and mainly focused on
the amount and composition of food waste (Schott and
Andersson, 2015). This provides critical information for
planning and managing efforts contrasting the waste problem.
Second, this study examines two possible antecedents of
food waste (i.e. healthy lifestyle and preventing actions), which
have been poorly considered in prior research. On the one
hand, the findings reveal that food waste can be included
among the potential outcomes of healthy lifestyle. Therefore, it
adds knowledge to prior research on healthy lifestyle, which
mainly addressed its possible outcomes under a medical and
nutritional perspective (Divine and Lepisto, 2005). On the
other hand, this study sheds light on both the concepts of
“prevention” and its relationship with food waste. Compared
to prior researches (Williams et al., 2012; Milne, 2013), the
present one provides a more comprehensive conceptualization
of food waste preventing behaviors, which is useful for
enriching the analysis of practical implications. Moreover, the
positive relationships that we have found between healthy food
and prevention, and prevention and food waste contribute to
overcome the lack of research examining the food waste
prevention topic (Quested et al., 2013; WRAP, 2013). The
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Volume 37 · Number 2 · 2020 · 148–159
study also addresses the international EU guidelines, calling for
more efforts on food waste preventing practices (Lin et al.,
2013). Most importantly, the results highlight that preventing
behaviors can have benefit for food waste reduction not only for
their direct effect, but also for improving the influence of
healthy lifestyle dimensions on food waste intensity. This is a
useful extension, which can inspire further practical measures.
Managerial implications can be proposed on a threefold
level, involving public institutions, private manufacturers and
retailers.
Concerning institutions – like schools and universities – as
well as public and private associations, prior research already
highlighted the relevance of ad hoc educational programs aimed
at improving the overall awareness of young consumers about
food waste damages (Gutiérrez-Barba and Ortega-Rubio,
2013). Although all generations can be considered responsible
for food waste production, millennials have been recognized
among people most inclined to food waste (FAO, 2011;
European Commission, 2014). Moreover, by considering that
they will be the consumers of the future (Vermeir and Verbeke,
2006), they need to be particularly educated on both food
waste management and consequences. Above all, our findings
suggest that educational programs should work on food waste
antecedents. Notably, such programs should be oriented to
encourage good eating habits, in terms of both food choices and
meals’ regularity. Moreover, educational programs should
promote a better management of food purchases and use, thus
improving the millennials’ ability to face some daily activities,
such as compiling a shopping list, checking the dates and re-
using of leftovers.
With regard to the food producers, recommendations are
suggested for the management of marketing policies, especially
communication. Both content and media strategies should be
carefully planned. With respect to the communication content,
the results detect the need of defining educational campaigns
particularly focused on the importance of preventing actions.
However, also the promotion of health-related values is critical
to fight the food waste, as well as the disclosure of information
related to the consequences of a wrong way of eating. Such kind
of messages could contribute to develop a more suitable
behavior among millennials, thus leading them to adopt more
focused actions on food waste reduction (Lazell, 2016).
Nevertheless, for obtaining an effective communication,
companies also need to choose the right media and
communication languages. Although millennials can be reached
through plenty of traditional media, recent literature highlights
their increasing use of digital channels, such as smartphones and
computers. Millennials seem to be increasingly responsive to
online coupons and email updates. They appreciate a good
graphic of the website as long as the design is still simple and
professional. Moreover, they like to interact with the company
and respond to personalized messages (Taken Smith, 2012).
Thus, campaigns on food waste, as well as the promotion of
preventing behaviors and healthy food habits, should be
conveyed through digital media, especially via social networks,
which represent the main tool whereby millennials assess reality
and anything they do (Dabija et al., 2018).
Besides communication, food companies should also
manage the product packaging and labeling having in mind the
food waste problem. In this respect, they could provide more
 Healthy lifestyle
Elisabetta Savelli, Barbara Francioni and Ilaria Curina
detailed information concerning the correct use of foods in
the product labels. The packaging could be designed to extend
the shelf life of foods, by using specific materials, as well as to
reduce the risk of partial use of food, e.g. by producing
recyclable single-dose packs.
Above all, given the importance of date labeling for food
safety, date labels should be sufficiently clear for consumers. In
this respect, the study demonstrated that the correct
understanding of the difference between “best before date” and
“use by date” is a good practice minimizing the food waste.
Thus, producers should clearly indicate the dates on the
product label, while consumers should be more educated to the
correct use of them.
Finally, some practical implications can be derived for
retailers, especially in terms of assortment and pricing policies.
Prior research highlighted that millennials generally appreciate
wide assortments, high quality as well as convenience when
purchasing food (Savelli et al., 2019). Hence, retailers should
promote wider and deeper assortments of high-quality and
healthy food (Goetzke et al., 2014). Furthermore, they should
develop pricing strategies associated with healthy food that
consider the low income of the young, even evaluating the
possibility to provide special offers and promotions addressing
the millennial group. Overall, from the retailers’ perspective,
the organization of promotional strategies, with the final aim of
reducing the excessive purchase of foods; improving the
availability of small packages, sold at a lower price; and limiting
the creation of stocks difficult to use at home could allow them
to make their own contribution in the fight against the food
waste phenomenon.
Conclusions, limits and future research
This study investigated the relationship between healthy
lifestyle and food waste intensity. The basic hypothesis is that
the adoption of a healthy lifestyle reduces the intensity of food
wasted. Moreover, the study argued that such a relationship is
mediated by positive behaviors towards food waste.
Based on a survey of 1,941 UK consumers, the study
supported the above hypotheses.
Notwithstanding the contribution of this study to previous
research on food waste, there are still limitations to overcome,
which inspire future studies.
First, the study used a self-estimated measure of food waste
intensity. This can bias individuals to under-estimate the
amount of food wasted (Mondéjar-Jiménez et al., 2016), thus
suggesting the use of objective measures in future research.
Second, the lifestyle was analyzed in relation to food waste
intensity, putting the attention on three dimensions, namely,
meals’ regularity, consumption of healthy food and habit of
eating at home. However, lifestyle is very complex in nature and
changes accordingly to individuals’ socio-demographic
characteristics (Divine and Lepisto, 2005). Thus, using a larger
and more heterogeneous sample, including different generational
cohorts, could be useful both to assess the robustness of the
present findings and to investigate other aspects of lifestyle
related to food waste.
Finally, a further limitation concerns the adoption of a
convenient sample for the analysis. Although the non-
probabilistic sample has been adopted by several previous
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Volume 37 · Number 2 · 2020 · 148–159
studies dealing with food waste (Principato et al., 2015; Ponis
et al., 2017), it reduces the possibility to give a direct statistical
generalization of the results. In this study, such limitation is
further emphasized by the restricted sample and the area of
examination. Thus, it is likely to suppose that the insights
emerging from this study can be the basis for developing more
extensive studies.
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 Healthy lifestyle Journal of Consumer Marketing
Elisabetta Savelli, Barbara Francioni and Ilaria Curina Volume 37 · Number 2 · 2020 · 148–159

Appendix

Table AI Constructs’ definition and measures

Construct Item
Code Description Code Description Scale Main References
PREVENTION Actions preventing food P1 I regularly plan my purchases by writing a 1 = never; 5 = always Mondéjar-Jiménez et al. (2016)
waste shopping list
P2 I am aware of the differences between “use
by” and “best before” dates
P3 I regularly use leftovers in the following days
FOODWASTE Intensity of food wasted W1 Fruit and vegetables 1 = never; 5 = always Mondéjar-Jiménez et al. (2016)
“at least once per week” W2 Pasta and rice
W3 Bread
W4 Meat (red and/or white)
W5 Fish
W6 Cheese and eggs
W7 Precooked foods
W8 Butter and other fats
REGULARITY Meals’ regularity R1 I regularly have breakfast 1 = never; 5 = always Sjoberg et al. (2003)
R2 I regularly have lunch
R3 I regularly have dinner
HEALTHYFOOD Consumption of healthy HF1 I regularly eat fruit and vegetables 1 = never; 5 = always Divine and Lepisto (2005)
food HF2 I regularly eat white meat
HF3 I don’t drink alcohol and soft drink at all
EATHOME Habit of eating at home EH1 I regularly consume my daily meals at home 1 = never; 5 = 1 per day McCarthy and Liu (2017)

About the authors
Elisabetta Savelli is Associate Professor in Business
Economics and Management at the Department of
Economics, Society, Politics of the University of Urbino. She
is professor of Marketing at the School of Economics. Her
research interests focus on strategic and operational marketing
issues with particular regards to SMEs, retail contexts and
consumer behavior. She recently published on international
Journals, such as Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services,
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management,
Total Quality Management & Business Excellence,
International Journal of Management Reviews.
Barbara Francioni is an Assistant Professor in Business
Economics and Management in the Department of
Communication Sciences, Humanities and International
Studies, University of Urbino. Her research interests focus on
the internationalization of small- and medium-sized
enterprises, international marketing and marketing. Her work
has appeared in numerous journals, including International
Business Review, Management Decision, Journal of Strategic
Marketing, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise
Development, Journal of East-West Business and others. Barbara
Francioni is the corresponding author and can be contacted
at: barbara.francioni@uniurb.it
Ilaria Curina is Research Fellow in Economics and
Management at the Department of Communication
Sciences, Humanities and International Studies, University
of Urbino. Her research interests focus on the exhibition
sector trends (which characterized the main issue of her
doctoral dissertation), the adoption and management of
Social Media and Information and Communication
technologies and the analysis and elaboration of a possible
index for the measurement of firms’ online presence
(applied to different sectors of analysis).

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