Do moral constraints and government interventions promote the willingness and behaviors of food saving among urban residents in China? An empirical study based on structural equation model

As income rises and the food supply becomes more sufficient, food waste becomes increasingly severe in emerging economies. Promoting food conservation behaviors among residents is crucial; however, there is little evidence of the consumer-related driving factors behind this behavior from both internal and external perspectives. Based on the theory of planned behavior and the structural equation model, this paper examines the impact mechanism of internal moral constraints and external government intervention on the psychology of saving food among Chinese urban residents in one research framework. Survey data combined from random street-stop interviews and an online survey are applied. Results show that moral constraints, as internal factors, still play a crucial role in forming Chinese urban residents’ willingness to save food. The most influencing mechanisms are through impacts on attitude (personal moral cognition) (β = 0.311) and perceived behavioral control (comparison of economic and moral costs and benefits) (β = 0.581). In the meantime, government interventions, as external factors, significantly impact residents’ willingness and behavior to save food. The government’s efforts in guiding food conservation have a direct promoting effect (β = 0.135) on the respondents’ food-saving willingness, while services and support to food conservation from the government directly promote food-saving behaviors (β = 0.068). Also, the number of household generations and respondent age positively impact food saving willingness, while chronic diseases, income, and food consumption expenditure have adverse impacts. Policies encouraging food saving need to conduct from both internal and external intervention. On the one hand, it demands to strengthen residents’ moral constrains by promoting traditional virtues and improving the awareness of global food security challenges, which can increase the benefits of food saving behaviors in terms of moral values. On the other hand, government intervention on guiding and supporting food conservation can effectively increase both willingness and behaviors of food saving.