Sustainable Management of Food Waste during COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights into Irrational Food Hoarding among Chinese Citizens

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, food waste caused by excessive hoarding has accounted a large proportion of the total food waste in urban Chinese households, which indicates that reducing food hoarding has become key to managing household food waste. This study therefore explored the behavioral mechanisms underlying excessive food hoarding among citizens. Based on a sample set of 511 respondents surveyed in Beijing, Hefei, and Guiyang in July 2022, a PLS-SEM model was conducted using SmartPLS 3.0 software to simulate the decision-making process of food hoarding. The following results were found. First, among the households with hoarding, 66.37% had some degree of food waste. Second, hoarding preference was the direct predictor of hoarding behavior, which means that hoarding behavior can be effectively controlled by regulating preferences. Third, group influence including homology consistency and social network support, as well as psychological panic, both enhanced citizens’ hoarding preference and induced hoarding behavior. Therefore, it is necessary to weaken group influence and try to help citizens overcome panic. Finally, food supply information release can not only alleviate citizens’ psychological panic and weaken group influence, but also block the transformation of preference into behavior. The above results are of great importance for the design of management policies for food waste caused by irrational hoarding during the pandemic.

Food system under COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai: problems and countermeasures

“…On the other hand, the latest policy measures and food supply information were disseminated to the residents through the community committees. This ensured that residents remained informed about the policy implementation and reduced their food shortage concerns which could be effective in reducing psychological panic among residents (Zhang et al, 2022). Besides, community committees routinely collected feedback from residents regarding issues related to food quality and quantity to district government.…”