From Waste to Taste: Activating Personal Norms for Ugly Food Purchase

ABSTRACT

Food loss and waste have become a critical global sustainability issue, with a substantial share stemming from consumers' aversion to imperfect or “ugly” produce. Unlike other domains of sustainable food consumption, ugly food purchasing conflicts with consumers' inherent preference for aesthetically appealing products; however, the psychological and normative mechanisms that can foster its acceptance remain underexplored. This study applies the norm activation model ( NAM ) to investigate the sequential relationships among awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility, personal norms, and purchase intention for ugly food. We extend the NAM by incorporating social norms and regulatory focus, offering a more comprehensive understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying norm activation in this context. Evidence from three online consumer experiments ( N  = 1650) reveals that increased awareness of the consequences of food waste increases consumers' ascription of responsibility, which subsequently activates personal norms and strengthens their intention to purchase ugly food. Social norms further enhance purchase intention through the sequential mediation of responsibility ascription and personal norms. Notably, the influence of awareness of consequences on responsibility ascription is stronger among consumers with a prevention focus. This study is among the first to apply and extend the NAM to understand the development of personal norms regarding ugly food, providing novel theoretical insights and practical implications for promoting sustainable food behaviors. The findings suggest that marketers and policymakers can leverage social norms and targeted consumer education to effectively reduce food waste.