RESEARCH ARTICLE
Confucian Culture as Determinants of Consumers' Food Leftover
Generation: Evidence from Chengdu, China
Chuanhui Liao
1,2
&
Jin Hong
1
&
Dingtao Zhao
1
&
Shuang Zhang
2
&
Changhong Chen
2
Received: 16 October 2017 / Accepted: 28 February 2018 / Published online: 15 March 2018
#
Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract
Food waste is a worldwide problem due to its effects on carbon emission, water pollution, and arable lands. Previous studies of
food waste generationand reduction focus on demographic, psychological, and situational factors, whereas the effects of culture in
different countries have been ignored. This paper investigates the influence of Confucian culture on behaviors that waste food,
considering additional factors of face saving and group conformity. We used an integrated behavioral intention model combining
the TPB model and Lee’s modified Fishbein model. The results show that including the constructors of Confucian culture
increases the predictive power of the model. Face saving and group conformity are found to significantly influence attitude
toward food waste reduction. Face saving can greatly reduce the intention to pack leftovers, and group conformity has a significant
effect on the ordering of small portion sizes. Based on these results, we give a discussion and put forward with suggestions to the
government and the catering industry. Limitations and implications for future research are provided accordingly.
Keywords Food waste
.
Confucian culture
.
TPB and modified Fishbein behavioral intention model
Introduction
Sustainability in food consumption and the reduction of food
losses and food waste have gained substantial attention world-
wide. It is estimated that food losses and food waste squander
one third of the food produced in the world (Food and Nations
2013). Moreover, it is estimated that food waste in Asia will
increase from 2.78 to 4.16 million t from 2005 to 2025
(Mavropoulos 2011). Food wastage not only threatens global
food security but also has effects on the environment. On one
hand, wastage of cereals, meat, and vegetables has been
regarded as a significant problem for the environment and
has negatively influenced carbon, water, and arable land
(Food and Nations 2013). It is reported that greenhouse gas
emissions (GHG) generated from decomposition of wasted
food amounts to 3 Gt of CO
2
eq., which is more than twice
the total GHG emissions of all road transportation in the USA
in 2010 (Food and Nations 2013). Also, the disposal of bio-
degradable food waste into landfills may release large quanti-
ties of gases, most notably methane, which is more potent than
carbon dioxide. On the other hand, since food waste accounts
for a large part of the municipal solid waste (Guven et al.
2017), it may cause heavy environmental burdens on munic-
ipal solid waste management and it increases the cost of gar-
bage disposal (Liwei et al. 2013).
Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues
* Chuanhui Liao
liaochuanhui@163.com
1
School of Management, University of Science and Technology of
China, Hefei 230026, Anhui, People’s Republic of China
2
School of Economics and Management, Southwest University of
Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, Sichuan, People’s
Republic of China
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2018) 25:14919–14933
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1639-5
Food waste refers to Bfood appropriate for human con-
sumption being discarded, whether or not after it is kept be-
yond its expiry date or left to spoil.^(Food and Nations 2013).
We use the term leftover to describe food after preparation/
consumption, including food residues after a meal. Hence,
leftover food (also called Bleftovers^) can be a type of food
waste if it is not saved for later consumption. It is reported that
12% of the food waste is generated in the food service sector
in EU member states in 2012 (Stenmarck et al. 2016), and
plate leftovers amount to 17% of all food waste in a certain
Finnish food chain (Katajajuuri et al. 2014). Since the major
components of food leftovers are uneaten vegetables and
starchy side dishes, food leftovers are regarded as main
opportunity area to reduce food waste (Katajajuuri et al. 2014).
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