Retail or consumer responsibility? Reflections on food waste and food prices among deal-prone consumers and market actors

TY - JOUR

T1 - Retail or consumer responsibility? Reflections on food waste and food prices among deal-prone consumers and market actors

AU - Aschemann-Witzel, Jessica

AU - Randers, Louise

AU - Pedersen, Susanne

PY - 2023/5

Y1 - 2023/5

N2 - Supermarkets have been criticized by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for pricing tactics that trigger overpurchase, which may subsequently lead to food waste. Some retailers have responded by abolishing price promotions. However, is it the macro-level of the market structure, or the micro-level of the consumer, that is to blame for food waste? With an outset in consumer responsibilization theory and through 24 in-depth qualitative interviews, we explore how consumers and institutional actors perceive the responsibility for food waste in the interface between retailers and consumers, and how this perception has evolved. We identify two responsibility narratives—one that portrays the consumer as a self-governed actor and the other as interdependent on the institutionally shaped context. We uniquely show that over time, a process of hybrid responsibility expansion has led to an extension of the consumer's responsibility into the retailer's domain of action, and vice versa. Findings highlight that responsibilization is not either on the consumers or retailers' side and can expand for both. This provides a nuance and a new contribution to the theory. For businesses, our results imply that abolishing price promotions does not align with consumer's ascription of responsibility. In turn, actions that involve collaborations of actors, including consumers, speak much more to the perception of responsibility expansion.

AB - Supermarkets have been criticized by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for pricing tactics that trigger overpurchase, which may subsequently lead to food waste. Some retailers have responded by abolishing price promotions. However, is it the macro-level of the market structure, or the micro-level of the consumer, that is to blame for food waste? With an outset in consumer responsibilization theory and through 24 in-depth qualitative interviews, we explore how consumers and institutional actors perceive the responsibility for food waste in the interface between retailers and consumers, and how this perception has evolved. We identify two responsibility narratives—one that portrays the consumer as a self-governed actor and the other as interdependent on the institutionally shaped context. We uniquely show that over time, a process of hybrid responsibility expansion has led to an extension of the consumer's responsibility into the retailer's domain of action, and vice versa. Findings highlight that responsibilization is not either on the consumers or retailers' side and can expand for both. This provides a nuance and a new contribution to the theory. For businesses, our results imply that abolishing price promotions does not align with consumer's ascription of responsibility. In turn, actions that involve collaborations of actors, including consumers, speak much more to the perception of responsibility expansion.

KW - consumer behaviour

KW - food waste

KW - marketing

KW - qualitative

KW - stakeholder engagement

KW - sustainability

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85133921493&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/bse.3202

DO - 10.1002/bse.3202

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0964-4733

VL - 32

SP - 1513

EP - 1528

JO - Business Strategy and the Environment

JF - Business Strategy and the Environment

IS - 4

ER -