Food Waste: Behavioral Intent of INDIAN Consumer’s. Yield of Food Security

This current research analyzed data on the pretext of food waste, being initiated intentionally or unintentionally by Indian consumers that included sample of consumers being segmented all the way through gender, household size, professional qualication, e-commerce benet and age. Data was collected from 744 respondents (342 males & 402 females) through well drafted questionnaire and proportional odd regression model was used to rate the different phases of consumer food choices according to their usage and wastage. This model drafted relationship among the covariates (acquisition, storage & preparation) phases and their succeeding impact on food waste. At every phase, the inuences of the previous phase on the current modeled phase was evaluated to caliber the impact of explanatory variables (socio-economic factors of consumers of developing nation India) on food waste by using proportional odd regression model analysis, which also tried to uncover the major drivers for food waste. It was evident from the ndings that every phase with (categorized socio-economic variables) emphasized in revealing positive relationship of variables in lowering the frequency of food waste among consumers. On the contrary it has also been apparent that gender having e-commerce benets seems to have elevated blend for food waste. For corporate these research outcomes can be outlined on specic food brands rather than on common food items to hasten their manufacturing and meeting the signicant supply and demand of the market.


Introduction
To what extent do marketing and digital communications in uence the buying intent which leads to food insecurity is a fascinating topic to explore. Marketers across the world intend to socialize right message to the right people at the right time to trigger their reaction which in turn result in nal purchase or buying behavior. Traditionally, the corporate consumer exchange process was viewed as a chain of interactions in between corporate and consumers (Zeithaml & Gupta, 2006).
After receiving exposure through different media (o ine or online) platforms, why do people look for repeated food alternatives which result in generous birth to negative environment results? Which type of behavioral intent explains these behavioral actions? These questions consider high complexity in context to domestic food waste.  Verplanken et al., 1998;Loewenstein, 1996). The occurrences of food waste differ between countries and their states. The phrases poverty and food insecurity are often used as synonyms, but it should be illustrious that they are not meant to be the similar phenomenon (Rose, 1999).Most of the time meager level of food waste has its association with consumers who t in to low-income groups and other social groups linked with poverty, like ethnic minorities and single mothers (Coleman-Jensen et al., 2014; Tarasuk, Mitchell, and Dachner, 2012). Increase in per capita income of consumers can be considered as tough associate of food waste, even though many poor families on meager side experience food insecurity and astonishingly richer families are highly rated for food waste (Gundersen and Gruber, 2001 and Rose, 1999).
In the middle gear, it has also been noticed that price has turned up as nicky instrument which has leveraged great support to retailers or manufacturers in triggering over-buying among consumers and has its direct impact on food security (Kulikovskaja and Aschemann-Witzel, 2017).Underprivileged people might be food secure, if they balance their limited nancial resources with elevated levels of knowledge, food literacy and understanding about how to acquire and plan cheap, high quality foodstuff.
Furthermore, high end income groups may be food insecure if they are not in a position to control their expenses with priority, to transportation and mortgages.

Food Waste ⊆Food Security
Food waste which have an expression of unethical output of human intent and hardship of agriculture work relied on two most important factors i.e supply chain and sustainable consumption, which even has turned into two major challenges for economies which has resulted in the conception of aggrieved food waste . (Foley et al., 2011) wasting food can be considered as waste of scant natural resources. There are numerous complex factors whose outcome is food waste; among these factors macro-environmental, social and situational are the key to impact food waste (Quested et al., 2013). Policy creators are in a situation to regulate certain macro environmental factors like food legislation, information and taxation but still, deep routed efforts are required to persuade consumer characteristics with multiple awareness campaigns. Interestingly, these advances have been argued to be comparatively more effective (Chalak et al. (2016); Gutierrez-Barba and Ortega-Rubio (2013)). In accumulation to the above facts, (Evans, 2014) dynamic changes which have occurred in consumption culture of consumers towards 'throw-away' culture has initiated new inclination causing the trouble of food waste. Accessible research on consumer characteristics & consumer households speci es that even in meager income household group, food is wasted due to several reasons. These reasons embrace de cit of capabilities or over-purchase (Porpino et al., 2015), the aspiration to accomplish the caretaker function and endow with food abundance at home (Porpino et al., 2016) in reference to other things. On the whole, it was evident that surge in income intensity and mounting middle classes are the major reason for surge in food waste Krishna et al., 1991).

Food security⊆Household Management
Preceding research has highlighted that food security always initiate at the household level and can be termed as managed process which requires rigorous efforts to muddle through an inadequate supply of food and resources to acquire food. This process has observable set of stages which leads to increase in food security (Wehler et al., 1992;Radimer et al.,1990). At the preliminary level, household consumers experience anxiety concerning their food situation, and then most of the time adjustment was evident in their budget expenditure which had direct impact on their food management. In the secondary level, adults at middle age lessen their food intake, but start protecting their children's food intake. In the nal level, the children also start experiencing reduction in food intake which results in sharp decline of food security in household consumers. This has been evident in one of the survey being conducted by (Blumberg et al., 1999) In fact, most of the studies have resulted in building positive associations between food security & household program participation, which sometimes are treated biased. Even health shocks have direct linkage to food security which again leads to adverse economic outcomes of individual consumer. The study on elderly consumers by (Smith, 1999) highlighted the probable signi cance of health shocks as a determinant of food security, another study conducted by (Corman et al. 2014) found no relationship between infant health shocks and their family food security, but particularly low income consumers with disabilities cash strapped public assistance program, do have their count in food security. Moreover, meager studies provide well-built evidence of causal effects like nonparametric methods where (Gundersen and Kreider 2009) applied these methods to substantiate food insecurity adverse impact on children's obesity & health condition, and inferred that past approximation of adverse impact of food insecurity on health were downward biased.

Food waste an integral part of food security
Developed nations are critically facing issues related to food waste; countries like US have millions of consumer facing this hardship and can be considered as pointer of well-being. Both adult consumer and children living in households are at ampli ed risk of food security which could be termed as food waste and it has lead to physical health issues such as anemia & asthma, mind and behavioral issues among consumers (Gundersen et al., 2011). Garg et al. (2015) collected data from birth cohort, having association with early childhood longitudinal study where it was evident that gloominess in mothers with 9 month old children, was responsible for 50% higher food security that prolongs for the duration of 15 months and has direct impact on food waste. (Nayyar, 2018) identi ed that products with resealable packaging are highly preferred in comparison to non sealable packaging and it has been evident resealable packaged products are higher in food quantity, so it may lead to food waste if stored for longer duration.  Dahal and Fertig (2013) developed the casualty between spending behavior & mental illness which resulted in forecast of women hefty expenses on variety of consumer goods (food waste) which has direct impact on their mental health problems.
For low-income group households, this situation might differ as they are not able to meet their expenses of food at some moment of time due to meager earnings in their budget cycle. We have come across of numerous studies that have explicitly tried to calculate mental illness effects on food waste which are causal in nature, despite being proved that the two have correlation, this current research tried to incorporate all possible reasons which directly or indirectly impact the amount of food waste among consumers.

Gap
This research has attempted to address the gap by estimating the socio-economic indicators which seems to have been ignored in previous researches while formalizing the attributes due to which food waste occurs. The hypothesized aspects, which will not get touched in this research are related to quality testing of ingredients which are used in making food and seems to be infeasible, as it require some sort of laboratory oriented results.

Objectives Framed
The intent of this research was to explore the insight characteristics of consumer related to food waste at home. The consumer characteristics here focused on consumer (socio-economic indicators) demographics and lifestyle that include attributes like family size, consumer profession, gender, ecommerce coupons, health awareness, visiting shopping malls that impact the level of food security in their routine life. More speci cally, the research objectives to be explored in this current research are having linkage with the above said attributes of consumers.

Methodology
This current research analyzed data, on the pretext of food waste being initiated intentionally or unintentionally by Indian consumers being segmented through gender, household size, professional quali cation, e-commerce bene t and age. Data was collected from 744 respondents (342 males & 402 females) through well drafted questionnaire whose link was formulated using Google form stack which was then shared with consumers through different social media platforms like Facebook; Linkedin and whatsapp during the speci ed time period (December 2019-February 2020). On the contrary, numerous number of times it has been vivid that statistical data collected on food waste have to be considered as (Acquisition, storage, preparation) phases of consumer preference were the dependent variables of this research. These three "phase variables" were deliberated in relation to food waste behaviors among consumers. The acquisition phase variable termed as driver of household food waste was calculated using a ve-item scale, whereas storage and preparation phase variables was assessed on a single-item scale. Contrary, distal explanatory factors illustrating socioeconomic conditions which can persuade consumers food choices were also studied (Tables: 1). The frequency of household surplus edibles measures the monthly occurrence of consumers food waste behavior on an ordinal scale (i.e., occasionally, always, or never). (Wright, 1934;Mueller, 1996) drafted regression models after working for three continuous years on the ideology of path analysis methodology. (Hosmer et al., 2013) has contributed towards the identi cation of major drivers of consumer's food choice cycle that has direct linkage to food waste. Here, proportional odd regression model was used to rate the different phases of consumer's food choices according to their usage and wastage. This model again drafted relationship among the covariates (acquisition, storage & preparation i.e independent and explanatory factors) and at last it was related to food waste (dependent variable). At each step, the in uences of the previous phases on the role of the currently modeled phase are included.

Research Tools & Approach
In this particular research, two odds ratios to measure non-proportional explanatory factors response on food waste (response level) "occasionally" with "always" or "never," whereas the second OR compared Page 7/20 "always" with "never". An odd ratio having value >1 indicated that correlation exists among the variables which again signi ed that explanatory factors has contributed towards frequency of food waste in comparison to reference category. For regression odds model, the goodness-of-t is measured using general chi-square statistic and associated p-values, which ascertain to the avowed assumption and results in the signi cance term.
In addition to the same, this current research also ensnare under-researched questions which portrayed food waste issues in developing economies which thus contributed towards the exploration of consumerrelated factors, causing food waste in emerging countries. Also, it has lead to the formulation of strategies for tackling food waste which leads in the improvement of the sustainable food consumption among consumers.

Results And Its Interpretation
The respondents of this current research shown in Table 1 were equally spread in demographic attributes like gender; household size (having children 0;1;2;3;4;>4); professional quali cation (primary, high, graduate, postgraduate & doctorate); e-commerce bene ts (coupons, no coupons) and nally the age (17-33, 34-63, above 64) .  While deliberating towards the association between accumulation of food waste and acquisition phase of food items, the model here emphasized the role of distal explanatory factors in creating speci cation for food purchase (Table 2). On one side, household size (4;>4) i.e with higher number of members can be considered as an active mind-set toward lower food waste characteristics of consumers. This even has been concealed while approving the routine/always framed shopping list by families, at the acquisition phase of buying the food items. This revealed that hypothesis's H O1 & H O2 should be rejected which means that food waste at acquisition phase of food procurement has probable negative relationship with shopping routine and family size of consumers. Diverse consumer traits are responsible for aggrieved level of household food waste and choice of food while performing purchase intent at stores (Jabs and Devine, 2006) even consumer nal buying decisions are highly impacted due to their purchase intent rather than media in uence (Nayyar and Batra, 2020).
On the contrary, the deliberation of shopping work being upheld by nuclear families having (one, two or three members) irrespective of their age, gender, quali cation and e-commerce special bene ts being offered by copious ecommerce players are considered as the main constitutive explanatory variables that construct positive trend for food waste at acquisition phase.  , 1996) in summit held at Rome clari ed that food security at an personage, global, regional, national and household stage is attained when they have economic admittance to adequate, secure and nutritious food to meet up their daily consumption needs and food choices for healthy living. There's always existed ctional gap linking the initial phase of food choice and projected outcome i.e (food waste). As consumers buying intent had always been projection based so during the storage time exact level of food waste could be chalked out (Read and van Leeuwen,1998). The results from (Table 3) i.e the storage phase of the research had emphasized on probable negative relationship with food waste and household size, age & quali cation of consumers.
While coming across the preparation phase (Table 4), signi cant negative relationship seems to have occurred between food waste drivers (explanatory variables) and household size (3;4;>4) & professional quali cation (Graduation) which depicts food waste frequency has declined while cooking the food items purchased and stored in the earlier stages, this revealed that hypothesis's H O6 & H O7 should be rejected which means that food waste at preparation phase of food procurement has probable negative relationship with professional quali cation and household size of consumers. But it has also been evident, that gender having e-commerce bene ts seems have elevated blend for food waste which might have occurred due to long working durations and higher stress level in their routine life and food waste might have been their least priority, this revealed that hypothesis H O8 should be accepted which means consumer food waste at acquisition, storage & preparation has positive relationship with gender having ecommerce bene ts shared by corporate.
Gender speci c dissimilarities while handling food and preparation of the same have been accounted (Hartmann et al., 2013). Due to high end complexity in the consumption behavior; lifestyle and societal pressure, sustainable transform has been evident in the food sector which required peculiar policy (Beverland, 2014& Reisch et al., 2013 as it has lead to changed dietary selections and with mounting middle class segment in developing nations (De Koning et al., 2015) food waste has been termed as major social issue of this era. Even, triggered over purchase by consumers due to best offers offered by retailers has been an area responsible for high frequency of food waste (Aschemann-Witzel, 2018).

Conclusions And Discussions
Consumer purchase intent has appeared as one of the major critical attribute that has resulted in the invention of food waste in different households; even it has become progressively more vital during the time period of survey conducted on different consumers. Marketers have to become an eye opener for consumers and provide candid information on food waste and quantity of food to be procured at the time of buying which will lead to higher trust level and longer association with customers which by and large will lower the waste frequency of food items. E-commerce players while selling food options through their online platform are required to deliberate on health issues by associating quantity to be consumed by consumer related to particular food item, this will lead towards the reduction of food waste as majority of the Indian consumers are digital due to cheaper internet facilities available by corporate in telecom sector.
Supermarkets and kariana stores have to promote the consequences of food waste by directly provoking the de ciencies which may erupt for below poverty line people in the form of surge in the pricing of essential products which indirectly will impact the pocket of customer in coming future. Even, special educational programs or campaigns should be held in order to create awareness for food waste among students of schools and higher institutions.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
This current research has revealed the relationship of distal explanatory (demographics) variables for food response (waste). Numerous number of times it has been vivid that statistical data collected on food waste have to be treated as blurred and indecisive as this diverge signi cantly by classi cation of food waste and data resource used in its collection (Bellemare et al., 2017. Here, targeted customers might have prior activation of cognitive mindset for food items which might have changed their actual response as categorizing of speci c food products in the questionnaire was not feasible due to the availability of numerous options of food in the environment. Limitation related to macro environment cannot be ignored as the time frame was covid-19 free when data was collected from the respondents. Also, the mindset of respondents cannot be uncared while lling the online Google form stack as we all know in busy schedule the presence of mind has some ambiguity due to work pressure or personal life issues of respondents. For the betterment of society, food consumption should be highly emphasized with relation to consumer access to that speci c food and the studies have to focus in identifying the groups who are constantly at risk of food insecurity and this will upshot in framing best government policies.
Addition of speci c food items in questionnaire and special warnings if printed on food products on health issues will result in different way of prediction related to food waste. If buying quantity can be mentioned on food products related to household size, higher trust level can be incurred by speci c brand manufactured and long term retaining of customer if feasible. These research outcomes can be outlined on speci c food brands rather than common food items which can be valuable for companies to hasten their manufacturing by actually meeting supply and demand of the market.

Declarations
Funding Nil

Con icts of interest/Competing interests Nil
Availability of data and material If required in future.
Code availability Nil Figure 1 Regression Model: Path diagram for food waste