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Restaurant management and food waste reduction: factors affecting attitudes and intentions in restaurants of Spain

Viachaslau Filimonau (School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK and Hotelschool The Hague, Den Haag, The Netherlands)
Ayşen Coşkun (Faculty of Applied Sciences, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey)
Belen Derqui (IQS School of Management, Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona, Spain)
Jorge Matute (IQS School of Management, Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona, Spain)

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

ISSN: 0959-6119

Article publication date: 24 December 2021

Issue publication date: 3 February 2022

2198

Abstract

Purpose

Although the challenge of food waste (FW) in the foodservice sector is significant, restaurant managers do not always engage in its reduction. The psychological reasons for this disengagement remain insufficiently understood. This study aims to explore the antecedents of behavioural intention of restaurateurs (not) to reduce FW. The influence of three factors is tested, namely, market orientation; environmental apathy alongside selected neutralization techniques, namely, appeal to higher loyalties; denial of injury and denial of responsibility.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses the method of a large-scale managerial survey (n = 292) administered in the commercial foodservice sector of Spain. The data are analysed via structural equation modelling with partial least squares.

Findings

The study finds that market orientation affects managerial intention to reduce FW but not their attitude, while environmental apathy influences managerial attitudes but not their behavioural intention. The study confirms the negative effect of such neutralizers as the appeal to higher loyalties and the denial of injury on suppressing managerial intention to reduce FW. Contrary to initial anticipations, another established neutralizer, the denial of responsibility, exerts no significant effect.

Practical implications

The study elaborates on the interventions necessitated to neutralize the effect of the neutralizers on managerial (un)willingness to reduce FW in the commercial foodservice sector.

Originality/value

This is the first known attempt to understand the drivers of managerial engagement in FW reduction in the commercial foodservice sector through the prism of environmental apathy, market orientation and neutralization theory.

Keywords

Citation

Filimonau, V., Coşkun, A., Derqui, B. and Matute, J. (2022), "Restaurant management and food waste reduction: factors affecting attitudes and intentions in restaurants of Spain", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 1177-1203. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-07-2021-0899

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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