ASSIGNMENT HELP ON EFEECTS OF SOCIAL MARKETING ON FOOD WASTE BEHAVEOR IN SAUDI ARABIA

ABSTRACT

          Around the world it is estimated that up to a third of all food is wasted. Food waste and food loss are renowned as two of the serious predicaments for food security, the environment, and the world economy. It is an issue that has complex reasons and solutions, both on a global level as well as at a regional level. 

          Arab countries have one of the highest rates of food wastage in the world, and the region gives rise to the loss of approximately 210 kilograms per person in 2018, which was an increase on 2017 where the loss was approximately 184 kilograms per person (Saudi General Grains Organization, 2018). There is growing research linking psychological theories to the concept of morality of food wastage. There is a lack of research into the factors that influence food waste behaviour especially in the Middle East. The theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1985) is the most commonly used psychological theory when applied to food waste behaviour. This theory does not adequately cover all factors of human actions, especially given the importance of religion in Saudi Arabia. This research intends to explore how social marketing affects food waste behaviour and to conduct this research a theoretical model of moral disengagement has been applied with the models antecedent factors included as well as religion.

Food wastage is considered to be an unethical activity and in many areas where food is so scarce, food wastage is considered to be a matter of life and death. The psychological theory of moral disengagement theory has been used by Bandura (2007) to explain how the moral choices of individuals impact on ecological damage though there has been very little research into the antecedents of moral disengagement especially as it relates to the Middle East and food wastage, and ecological damage. The research from the literature review indicated that more information is needed regarding food wastage, to be studied for wastage along supply chains, consumer behaviour, and attitude, cultural and religious drivers. Such information and an understanding of the underlying factors behind food waste are essential in finding ways of mitigating food loss and changing social attitudes. A survey will be conducted in two main phases using a mixed design (quantitative/qualitative) and then qualitative interviews.

INTRODUCTION

             The question of whether food waste in moral or immoral is confusing to many. To some, arguing that food waste is immoral is a belief from people with a different set of ideas. According to Riches (2018), when individuals converse about food waste, they refer to food thrown away that has not been spoilt. It is estimated that approximately a third of food in the world is wasted every year which is approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food (Grandhi, Singh., 2016). To them, they believe that it is one of the signs you are ungrateful for being lucky to afford food, where as there are many people in the world starving. However, there is claim that hunger is not the only issue people need to be disturbed about; This is in the sense that when people waste food, they not only waste the resources it took to produce it, but also the energy, which involves production, processing, storage and shipping.  Food waste can also cause some serious environmental effect since most of it goes to landfill, where it decomposes thus producing methane and greenhouse gas. This study focuses on how food waste relates with the moral disengagement theory and the effectiveness of social marketing to help understand the behaviour of food waste as well as reduce it.

Food waste can be distinguished in to three parts; avoidable food waste, partially avoidable food waste and unavoidable food waste. Avoidable food waste for example vegetables is food that is fit for human consumption that would have been eatable if consumed on time. Partially avoidable food waste for example bread crusts, apple skins or leftover food is that food produced due to different end user habits. Although, Johnston, Szabo and Rodney (2011) argue that it is not reasonable to include leftovers as food waste but encourages people to change their eating habits.  Unavoidable food waste for example potato and carrot peels is generally food produced during meal preparations. Under the moral disengagement theory, Moore (2015) claims it involves the re-framing of a damaging behaviour to be morally acceptable in the society. However, Riches (2018) suggest frequent shopping of foods like vegetables and fruits to lower avoidable food waste.