Influence of scarcity and environmental consciousness on food waste behaviour

Abstract Household food waste is one of the major contributors of the food waste across the supply chain raising concerns over environmental, economic and social issues. Global forums like United Nations have targeted to bring down the amount of waste generated to at least half by 2030 through the implementation of sustainable solutions. Therefore, considering the importance of the topic, the present work aims to explore how an individual's food waste behaviour takes shape during the scarcity context in a crisis‐based situation like the recent COVID‐19 pandemic. We collected the data online from 398 individuals residing in India, an emerging market context. This study presents a new avenue that during resource scarcity people can show generous behaviour as opposed to self‐interestedness and make efforts to conserve food. This, in turn, also increases their environmental and societal tendency. Thus, we argue that scarcity bridges the gap between food chain responsibility and sustainable development. We also accounted for the influence of environmental consciousness as a moderator affecting the behaviour of an individual as it further intensifies responsible food behaviour. The insights from the findings can help practitioners, public policymakers and academicians exploring the phenomenon of food waste to devise effective strategies, favourable policies and future research directions.