Journal of Cleaner Production 277 (2020) 124036

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Sustainable consumption: How does social media affect food choices?

Mariarosaria Simeone a, *, Debora Scarpato b
a
DEMM, University of Sannio (BN), Via Delle Puglie 82, 82100, Benevento (BN), Italy
b
University of Naples “Parthenope”, Department of Economics and Legal Studies, Via Generale Parisi, 13, 80132, Napoli NA, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Social networks both negatively and positively affect a consumer’s behaviour and awareness of sus-
Received 23 August 2019 tainable consumption. This research aims to interpret the multifaceted relationship between social
Received in revised form media information and sustainable consumption in terms of food choices, environmental awareness, and
24 August 2020
consumer information, which is the novel contribution of this study. A survey of 162 individuals in
Accepted 30 August 2020
Available online 3 September 2020
Benevento, Italy, revealed how information from social media is linked to non-sustainable food behav-
iour. That is, variables that positively affect the probability that information is obtained through social
Handling editor name: Prof. Jiri Jaromir networks are linked to behaviours that could be unsustainable from an environmental perspective.
Kleme
s Moreover, among the new findings is the result that social media tends to create homogenised con-
sumption, which, in many cases, is an attitude that depletes the environment. Limitations of this study
Keywords: and the results obtained outline future research directions.
Sustainable food consumption © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Social media
Social network
Food choice

1. Introduction to understand how this exposure to food online impacts one’s

eating habits. Some findings suggest that perceived norms about
Food production and consumption account for approximately actual consumption stemming from social media could influence
one-third of the world’s total household environmental impact. consumption of low and high energy food and beverages (Hawkins
Consumers play a major role in the shift towards more sustainable et al., 2020).
food and diet. One factor that determines what and why we eat is One theory in the business literature showed that the emerging
our social environment. The use of social networks has been shown links between environmental issues and their connection with
to change the way consumers search and select products and ser- consumption have made the degree of consumer attentiveness on
vices. Social media, specifically social networks, are becoming sustainability and sustainable consumption behaviours important.
prominent sources of information and means of communication, Given the small amount of research conducted regarding the effects
including about food (Zhang et al., 2019). Social media is also used of social media on sustainable food choices, this study’s objective is
to increase food choices, obtain recipes, provide a platform to to understand the characteristics of consumers who wish to remain
showcase food cooked or eaten by adults, and, in some cases, create informed about food through social media. Our results would thus
confusion among adults on making the right food choices. benefit companies and policymakers because the former need to be
Nowadays, it has become difficult to scroll through social media socially responsible when formulating marketing strategies, and
without seeing pictures and videos of food, recipes, or posts from the latter need to positively promote sustainable consumer food
family and friends sharing what they have eaten or will eat. Con- choices when planning for education and information programs.
sumers may not trust or be confused by the enormous quantity of We collect primary data from a survey of 162 individuals in the
information available on mass media. Thus, they turn to virtual municipality of Benevento in Campania, Italy, a region that was
groups and consumer associations for food advice. It is interesting among the first to use some social networks. The use of social
networks is particularly widespread in the city of Benvento;
moreover, the city pays great attention to culture and It has a
* Corresponding author. DEMM, University of Sannio (BN), Via delle Puglie 82, University. The gathered data were processed using a probit model
82100, Benevento (BN), Italy. to identify the variables that may affect consumer attitudes and
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. Simeone), debora.scarpato@ choices in relation to the information gathered through social
uniparthenope.it (D. Scarpato).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124036
0959-6526/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 M. Simeone, D. Scarpato / Journal of Cleaner Production 277 (2020) 124036

media. From this survey, we find that social networks tend to sustainable consumption through a study of 30 web organisations
homogenise consumption; they do not promote consumers’ sus- that encourage sustainable consumption habits. They classified the
tainable conscience. Therefore, this research adds value by organisations according to their commitment and services centred
considering that information from social media could be linked to on six dimensions of consumer sustainability awareness. Lazzarini
non-sustainable food behaviour. Moreover, social media tends to et al. (2018) showed how a sustainability label or guideline may
contribute to a kind of consumption behaviour that depletes the facilitate consumers in making environmentally friendly food
environment. choices. Lassoued and Hobbs (2014) argued that consumers are
These results reveal the lack of information on sustainability likely to trust individuals belonging to their social groups. They
issues, which also limits private companies from identifying found that consumers generally distrust information from mass
methods that align their eco-innovation strategies with consumer media and may be confused by the huge volume of information it
motivations. Thus, while social consumers have general knowledge generates; instead, they prefer to rely on online discussions, virtual
about food quality attributes, they lack specific information con- groups, or consumer associations (Sturiale and Scuderi, 2013). In
cerning sustainability. As such, our results have important mana- particular, the Internet has changed the form and definition of
gerial implications for food companies and policymakers in word-of-mouth, which is no longer limited to face-to-face contact
formulating relevant strategies. (Chu and Kim, 2011). In fact, people get information and share
The rest of this paper is organised as follows. Section 2 presents experiences through the Internet. Ho and Chien (2010), for
the literature review of studies on social media and sustainability instance, argued that there is a relationship between reliance on
consumption. Section 3 describes the methodology, including the online word-of-mouth information for communication and con-
questionnaire and empirical model. Section 4 presents the results sumption behaviour. Their research finds that consumers’ level of
of the binary probit model estimation and explains how the vari- trust in the content of food blogs can influence their food con-
ables considered are related to the probability that consumers sumption behaviour. As such, companies promote their products
obtain food information though social networks. Finally, section 5 using the Internet and connect with customers through online
offers concluding remarks and implications for companies and brand communities (De Vries et al., 2012), social media, forums,
policymakers. websites, blogs, and online gaming sites (Kaplan and Haenlein,
2010).
1.1. Literature review To define social media, Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) classified all
forms of social media in terms of social presence and media rich-
Sustainable food consumption is an important aspect of sus- ness, as well as self-presentation and self-disclosure. They high-
tainable development. When adopting a sustainable food lifestyle, lighted that each of the six different types of social media (i.e.,
consumers are confronted with complex choices. Current food Wikipedia, blogs, YouTube, Facebook, virtual gaming, and social
consumption is too complex to be explained thoroughly by socio- worlds) offer different opportunities for companies. Understanding
demographic factors (Verain et al., 2012). Ivanova et al. (2016) how these online forums and social networks, which have been
investigated the environmental impact of household consump- growing in popularity, affect consumer trust in the food sector of-
tion in relation to material, water, greenhouse gas emissions, and fers a new area of research (Lassoued and Hobbs, 2014; Amato et al.,
land use requirements associated with the production and use of 2019; Cesare et al., 2019).
products and services. Vermeir and Verbeke (2006) suggest that The business literature has hitherto concentrated on post-
sustainable food consumption can be stimulated by increasing modern consumer attitudes, such as the development of the con-
consumer involvement, enhancing the perceived effectiveness of sumption model based on creativity, feelings, and senses as well as
sustainable products, and increasing social pressure. In this regard, the need to interact with companies and other consumers. Nowa-
social networks are becoming important sources of information for days, in the food system, firms play an important role in informing
consumers (Hanna et al., 2011; Tully et al., 2020) and, specifically, a consumers about social problems such as health and sustainability
means of communication about food (Arnold, 2019; Fleming-Milici (Grunert et al., 2014). Moreover, the emerging use of social media
and Harris, 2020). by consumers makes online talks an attractive supplementary
In their research, Ko €nig et al. (2017) conducted two online strategy. Firms can support their products through online word-of-
studies to observe the relationship between food choice and social mouth to create a deeper awareness of their products and motivate
image. Choudhary et al. (2019) show that social media enables consumer discussions. Meanwhile, such media can also serve as a
acculturation for sustainable food consumption. Their findings means for consumers to organise mass protests against a firm
suggest that there is a link between the combined strategy of through adverse word-of-mouth (Ward and Ostrom, 2006). From
acculturation and information transmission on social media, which this perspective, companies should be conscious of the available
impacts acculturation towards sustainable food consumption methods to make decisions that are socially responsible (D’Eusanio
among social media consumers. Vaterlaus et al. (2015) studied et al., 2019).
young adults to determine the influence of social media on their Social media is considered an important element in the pro-
behaviour and attention to health using a social ecological frame- motion process because it allows companies to have more control
work. Declercq et al. (2019) examined the interest shown on over the way they communicate with their customers in a non-
Twitter and Facebook in health messages from a television show on traditional sense. This differs from the traditional marketing para-
food that was broadcast publicly in Belgium. Their conclusions digm of communication wherein customers are allowed to talk
demonstrate that information on health and production generates directly with others (Mangold and Faulds, 2009).
the highest amount of reactions, and that health information pro-
vokes a lot of contradiction, low acceptance, and many proposals on 2. Material and methods
new information.
The growing complexity of environmental issues and how they 2.1. Data collection
are related to consumption have made it important to understand
the degree to which consumers are aware of sustainability and A survey was conducted in the municipality of Benevento, Italy,
sustainable consumption behaviours (de Carvalho et al., 2015). among individuals responsible for food purchases at a point of sale.
Accordingly, Jaca et al. (2018) studied the reasons for subscribing to The study focused on the city of Benevento, which is an area of
 M. Simeone, D. Scarpato / Journal of Cleaner Production 277 (2020) 124036 3

great interest in the Campania region, for five main reasons: (1) it is reported: age, gender, level of education achieved, and area of
a prominent city from the point of view of art, (2) it experiences residence (Table 1). This part investigated how the consumers
significant tourist flow, (3) it has a rural tradition and (4) a deep obtain information on products consumed and on the character-
cultural identity, (5) and the local university has helped it to further istics of the products. Questions were asked about reading food
develop the human and social capital. According to data from the reviews and on the use of all social networks and mass media for
Socialis Observatory (2017), Campania is among the first places for information purposes. In this regard, the role of social networks
Facebook members, after the Piemonte region. Moreover, in the was investigated for both the choice of a new product and obtaining
Benevento province in particular, the widespread use of social of information on products that are already consumed.
network in Benevento has been demonstrated at times when the
city was in a state of emergency, as in the flood of 2015. During this 2.2. Empirical model
time, posts on social networks related to the calamity created
networks of relationships linked to emotions and social bonding, The basic assumption of this research is that, in food systems,
thereby promoting solidarity campaigns that became viral (Mela firms play a crucial role in informing consumers about social
et al., 2017). Social networks became a platform where users problems, such as sustainability, health, and ethics. From this
could respond to each other’s communicative and relational needs viewpoint, social media can influence information strategy in two
in a time of crisis. ways: by decreasing the cost of information and permitting infor-
This research sample is self-selected, it is an exploratory study mation suppliers to target specific consumer groups. In the eco-
without inferential objectives. nomics literature, social media practice is a crucial focus of
Face-to-face interviews were conducted from October to investigation (Atwal et al., 2018; Abbar et al., 2015; Vydiswaran
December 2017 for a sample of 162 consumers responsible for the et al., 2020). Such studies have examined the effects of the infor-
purchases (Table 1). In this way, complex questions that required mation collected by users of social networks on consumer attitudes
explanations during the interview were clarified, thereby reducing and choices and compared these with the attitudes and choices of
errors due to misinterpretation. The questionnaire was adminis- consumers who do not use social networks. Following the same
tered through a non-probability sample from a reasoned choice. method, we focus on how social networks can affect consumer
The questionnaire consisted of 41 multiple-choice questions. It attitudes and choices in favour of sustainable consumption.
did not allow open-ended answers. To explore the different char- Russo and Simeone’s (2017) final hypothesis states that social
acteristics of the respondents, the questionnaire was divided consumers are open to more information because of the sheer
conceptually into four sections: abundance of information sources on the Internet. Yet, the quality
of such information might be inferior to that of traditional mass
(1) Spending and consumption habits, consumer preferences for media because social networks allow anyone to post articles,
local and fresh products, and attention to the consumption of regardless of whether they are a reliable source. Moreover, recent
organic products; research has shown that in social networks, the youth create im-
(2) Dietary habits, particularly consumer preferences on animal ages that mimic food advertisements. This has strong implications
proteins derived from meat, legumes, and dairy products, as on health promotion. It also becomes more interesting to monitor
well as specific knowledge of some foods and the typology of young people’s experiences of marketing unhealthy foods in these
consumed fish; extensive online networks, given that the uploaded images repre-
(3) Knowledge and concerns about sustainable consumption, sent the lifestyle that they want to cultivate (Holmberg et al., 2016).
with questions investigating the awareness of the environ- As a result, social consumers feel that they are more informed;
mental impact of meat production, attention to food waste, nonetheless, while they have general knowledge about food quality
purchase of zero-kilometer products, and attention to con- attributes, they lack precise information.
sumer social responsibility; and Based on this hypothesis, we use primary data processed with a
(4) Information about the ways in which consumers remained probit model to identify variables that may affect consumer
informed. response to food-related information gathered through social me-
dia. In this study, several factors are considered to define a con-
Finally, the demographic data of the interviewees were sumer’s knowledge and attitudes towards food products (Table 2).
These are used as the explanatory variables and include preference
for fresh local fish (Lanfranchi et al., 2014), attention to food expi-
Table 1 ration deadlines (dates) (Di Talia et al., 2019), food reviews, reading
Respondent demographic characteristics. online journals, importance of biological products (Teng and Wang,
Age (in years) No. of respondents Percentage of the sample 2015), moderate consumption of meat (Fox and Ward, 2008),
consumption of legumes (Graça et al., 2015), zero miles products
18e34 80 49.38%
35e54 57 35.19% that have short travel distances from source to table (Grebitus et al.,
55e64 20 12.34% 2013), fish consumption of known species (McClenachan et al.,
65e74 5 3.09% 2016), daily consumption of milk and dairy products, living in a
Total 162 100% residential area, higher education degree, reading of newspapers
Education
Elementary 8 4.94%
and print magazines (Glynn et al., 2012), and consumer social re-
Primary school 23 14.20% sponsibility (Hingley et al., 2013). Variable Y represents the infor-
Secondary school 78 48.15% mation obtained through social networks. The arguments of the
Degree 30 18.52% function are the factors that determine P(Yi), the probability that,
Master’s degree 21 12.97%
given the values of the explanatory variables, the answer to a
Ph.D. 2 1.23%
Total 162 100% question is positive. Table 2 specifies and defines each of the vari-
Gendern ables used in the econometric analysis.
Male 75 46.30% The use of a probit model allows us to understand the impact of
Female 87 53.70% individual explanatory variables on the probability of a positive
Total 162 100%
response, that is, the probability that respondents use information
4 M. Simeone, D. Scarpato / Journal of Cleaner Production 277 (2020) 124036

Table 2
Variable definitions.

Variable Definition

Preference for fresh local fish (FLF) 1 ¼ Yes, 0 ¼ otherwise

Attention to expiration dates to reduce food waste (CDP) 1 ¼ Yes, 0 ¼ otherwise
Food reviews (BKI) 1 ¼ Yes, 0 ¼ otherwise
Reading online journals (OJ) 1 ¼ yes, 0 ¼ otherwise
Consumption of biological products (BP) 1 ¼ yes, 0 ¼ otherwise
Moderate consumption of meat (MCM) 1 ¼ yes, 0 ¼ otherwise
Awareness of meat impact on environment (MIE) 1 ¼ yes, 0 ¼ otherwise
Never consume legumes (NL) 1 ¼ yes, 0 ¼ otherwise
Purchase zero miles products (ZMP) 1 ¼ yes, 0 ¼ otherwise
Consumption of known fish species (KFS) 1 ¼ yes, 0 ¼ otherwise
Daily milk and dairy products (MDP) 1 ¼ yes, 0 ¼ otherwise
Residential area (RA) 1 ¼ yes, 0 ¼ otherwise
Higher education degree (HED) 1 ¼ yes, 0 ¼ otherwise
Newspaper and print magazines (NPM) 1 ¼ yes, 0 ¼ otherwise
Eating legumes often (ELO) 1 ¼ yes, 0 ¼ otherwise
Consumer social responsibility (ACS) 1 ¼ yes, 0 ¼ otherwise

from social networks, given the qualitative and binary dependent consumed, the more it is depleted, while the lesser known species
variable. This model is used when there is a dichotomous output remain unsold.
influenced by independent variables and is hence, appropriate for There is a positive effect of the variable ‘food reviews’ on the
this study. Accordingly, a specification of the probit model function probability of the response ‘information obtained mainly through
that represents the probability of choosing P can be expressed as: social media’. The variable, ‘food reviews’, shows that consumers
who enjoy reading food reviews keep themselves updated through
P ¼ FðIÞ ¼ F ¼ F (1) social networks. They also reach out to people they may not know
personally but who share the same food interests. This allows
F ¼P ¼ (2) consumers to easily compare ideas with geographically distant
people rather than through face-to-face meetings with those in the
where z is a standard normal random variable. Then, same area. Notwithstanding the ease of such communication, this
! leads to the acquisition of new knowledge as well as to the gradual
X
K
loss of established local culinary traditions. The variable ‘reading
Probðy ¼ 1Þ ¼ 4 bk xk (3)
online journals’ has a positive effect on the probability that con-
k¼1
sumers are kept informed through social networks and, as shown
 in other studies (Russo and Simeone, 2017), this aspect determines
ProbðISM ¼ 1Þ ¼ 4 b1 COSTANT þ b2FLFþb3 CPDþb4 BKIþb5 OJþb6 BP the quality of the information.
þb7 MCM þ b8 MIE þ b9 NL þ b10 ZMP þ b11 KFS þ b12 MDP ‘Consumption of biological products’ negatively affects the
 likelihood that the consumer will be kept informed via social net-
þ b13 RA þ b14 HED þ b15 NPM þ b16 ELO þ b17 ACS
works. Previous research suggests that consumers are becoming
(4) cautious of the effects of conventional agricultural practices on
After prior analysis to understand the importance of each vari- human health and environmental safety (Forbes et al., 2009; Perito
able in our study, we considered all the variables and ran the probit et al., 2019). This could be explained by consumers searching for
model. information through niche channels and not through social net-
works. The organic consumer is critical, conscious, and attentive to
consumer choices. He/she probably does not look for information
3. Results and discussion on common social media networks, but rather, on specialised
channels.
Table 3 reports results from the binary probit model estimation; The probability that consumers obtain information mainly
the variables are specified, defined, and coded for econometric through social networks is negatively affected by the variable
analysis. A likelihood test of the hypothesisdthat all coefficients ‘moderate consumption of meat’. This behaviour differs from what
are 0dwas performed on a chi-square value of 218.389, and the emerges from the variable ‘purchase of zero miles products’, which
hypothesis was rejected. has a positive effect on the probability of consumers obtaining in-
The variable ‘consumption of local fish’ negatively related to the formation through social network. This could be linked to the fact
probability that consumers obtained food information though so- that social media contributes to the dissemination of zero miles
cial networks. This suggests that those who use social networks for initiatives by producers who are organised to sell through social
information are more likely to use recipes with fish species that are channels.
more well known and, therefore, more depleted from a sustain- The results of the probit model show how the consumer who
ability perspective (Simeone and Scarpato, 2014). In fact, this is also stays informed via social networks does not seem to buy local fish,
demonstrated in the variable ‘preference for known fish species’, but rather purchases a species of known fish, perhaps driven by
which has a positive effect on the probability that the consumer is information that offers recipes for the preparation of more
mainly informed through social networks. From this result, the commonly consumed species. Finally, the variable ‘information
social network seems to affect the direction of mass consumption, through social network’ seems to positively relate to consumers
which results in a loss of authentic local culinary uses and tradi- who live mainly in residential areas. This may be because, in such
tions (Panzone et al., 2016). In this case, a problem of sustainability areas, there are fewer opportunities to meet and exchange ideas
also exists because the more a particular species of fish is with other people compared with those who live in central urban
 M. Simeone, D. Scarpato / Journal of Cleaner Production 277 (2020) 124036 5

Table 3
Model results.

Variables Coefficient SE Sig

Consumption of fresh local fish (FLF) 0.183 0.089 0.04b

Attention to expiration dates to reduce food waste (CPD) 0.295 0.147 0.044b
Food Reviews (BKI) 0.411 0.093 0c
Reading online journals (OJ) 0.219 0.099 0.027b
Consumption of biological products (BP) 0.216 0.098 0.027b
Moderate consumption of meat (MCM) 0.143 0.103 0.166
Awareness of meat impact on environment (MIE) 0.103 0.117 0.376
Never consuming legumes (NL) 0.066 0.207 0.75
Purchase of zero miles products (ZMP) 0.263 0.147 0.073a
Consumption of known fish species (KFS) 0.282 0.139 0.042b
Daily milk and dairy products (MDP) 0.098 0.089 0.274
Residence area (RA) 0.106 0.06 0.075a
Higher education degree (HED) 0.057 0.093 0.543
Newspaper and print magazines (NPM) 0.148 0.102 0.144
Eating legumes often (ELO) 0.003 0.148 0.983
Attention to CSR (ACS) 0.139 0.106 0.189
intercept 2.47 0.261 0
Summary Statistics
Sample Size 162
Chi square 218,389
Degree of freedom 146
a
p < 0.1.
b
p < 0.05.
c
p < 0.01.

areas. Thus, electronic word-of-mouth substitutes for traditional behaviours that differ from social consumers as showed by Stephen
word-of-mouth. (2016) and not many studies investigate this topic in the literature,
which has only recently emerged as a research area from the Uni-
versity of Oxford.1 Studies on this topic mainly evaluate each single
4. Conclusion social network channel, and only a few investigate the effects of
aspects related to the sustainability of food choices as we did in this
Sharing of information through social media can be an research.
increasingly efficient means to promote strategies that lead to Some limitations should be considered, however. Our empirical
stronger corporate social responsibility, in terms of public policies study utilizes a survey with a sample of social network users. It is an
and corporate management strategies. We find that the variables empirical study conducted as an explorative analysis to show ten-
that positively affect the probability that information is obtained dencies regarding the multifaceted relationship between social
through social networks are linked to behaviours that are unsus- media information and sustainable consumption. However, this
tainable from an environmental perspective. In fact, the con- exploratory research was conducted on a sample self-selected
sumption of local fish, choice of products with short shelf lives, without any inferential claims.
moderate consumption of meat, and consumption of organic This research has allowed us to draw conclusions that could be
products are all variables that act negatively on the probability that of interest to other researches.
information is obtained through social networks. However, the These results do not provide a generalizable truth, but in light of
variables concerning purchase/consumption of zero-miles prod- the results obtained could be a potential path to investigate on this
ucts, consumption of fish of known species, and residential area topic with a sample stratified by age group and education in order
exert positive effects. to make inference to the population.
These results indicate that social networks tend to homogenise Moreover, the social networks’ influence on consumer behav-
consumption, taking consumers farther away from sustainability iour and also on “citizen consumer” can be used to positively
consciousness. The only variable that represents an exception is the strengthen the knowledge of universities, policymakers, and
consumption of zero-miles products. Social consumers are open to companies involved in environmental responsibilities that could
more information because of the abundance of information sources encourage for actions that would help motivate sustainable
on the Internet. Yet, the quality of such information might be low. behaviour.
While social consumers consider themselves to be well informed Moreover, companies need to be socially responsible by evalu-
and have general knowledge about food quality attributes, they lack ating their own social impacts and performances as well as those of
specific information about food sustainability. Specifically, our re- their suppliers to maintain competitive advantage in the market.
sults reveal that the scarcity of information on sustainability topics In particular, this study suggests the need for policymakers to
also limits the opportunities for private companies to identify promote sustainable consumer food choices. A virtuous circle can
strategies to increase and support eco-innovation and consumer only be triggered via the diffusion of sustainability consciousness
motivations. Social media allows companies to converse with by stimulating the demand for sustainable products and rewarding
stakeholders, with an increasing number of big brands showcasing companies as a precursor of corporate social responsibility.
their visions on sustainability issues that they support. Owing to Therefore, these actions are of interest not only for companies,
social media, even the simple act of buying a particular type of food
can turn into a social statement. The results suggest that the
emerging movements in social media can favour market segmen-
tation. Consumers who lack trust in or access to social media are 1
https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/projects/social-media-narratives-of-
less open to communication about a topic and may exhibit sustainable-food-consumption/.
6 M. Simeone, D. Scarpato / Journal of Cleaner Production 277 (2020) 124036

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