The dark side of convenience: how to reduce food waste induced by food delivery apps
Shalini Talwar, Puneet Kaur, Umair Ahmed, Anil Bilgihan, Amandeep Dhir
Abstract
Purpose Food delivery apps (FDAs) have altered people's eating behaviour. The convenience of FDAs may cause consumers to order more food than people's level of hunger warrants, leading to food waste. Food waste is a grave societal problem, which, the authors argue, represents the dark side of FDAs. However, the tendency of consumers to order more food than required, or to engage in food over-ordering behaviour, has remained under-explored in the context of FDAs. Design/methodology/approach This study addresses the gap by examining the antecedents of over-ordering behaviour on FDAs through the theoretical lens of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), which past studies on food waste have also used. Findings The authors' results confirm the positive association of attitude, subjective norms and leftover reuse intentions with over-ordering behaviour. The moderation effect of age and gender on the relationship between subjective norms with over-ordering is also confirmed. Originality/value The study extends classic TPB propositions by incorporating trust and leftover reuse intentions as antecedents and age and gender as moderation variables. The study thus offers useful inferences for theory and practice.