Using Imagination to Overcome Fear: How Mental Simulation Nudges Consumers’ Purchase Intentions for Upcycled Food

Who Buys Surplus Meals? An Exploratory Survey in Danish Canteens

Food waste has received increasing attention over the last decade, owing to its economic, environmental, and social impacts. Much of the existing research has investigated consumers' buying behaviour towards sub-optimal and upcycle food, but surplus meal buying behaviours are poorly understood. Thus, this study performed consumer segmentation through a modular food-related lifestyle (MFRL) instrument and determined consumers' buying behaviour towards surplus meals in canteens employing the theory of reasoned action (TRA). A survey was conducted using a validated questionnaire from a convenient sample of 460 Danish canteen users. Four food-related lifestyle consumer segments were identified by employing k-means segmentation: Conservative (28%), Adventurous (15%), Uninvolved (12%), and Eco-moderate (45%). The Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis indicated that attitudes and subjective norms were significantly influencing surplus meal buying intention to further influence buying behaviour. Environmental objective knowledge was significantly influencing environmental concerns to further influence attitudes and behavioural intention. However, environmental objective knowledge had no significant influence on attitude towards surplus meals. Male consumers with higher education, those having higher food responsibility and lower food involvement, and convenience scores had higher surplus food buying behaviour. The results can be used to inform policymakers, marketers, business professionals, and practitioners to promote surplus meals in canteens or similar settings.

Self-Continuity

Self-continuity is the subjective sense of connection between one's past and present selves (past-present self-continuity), between one's present and future selves (present-future self-continuity), or among one's past, present, and future selves (global self-continuity). We consider the motivational character of the three forms of self-continuity, their regulatory properties, and the internal or external factors that consolidate them. We also review their consequences for attitudes and judgments or decisions, motivation, intentions and behavior, and psychological and physical health. We further detail the psychological and behavioral benefits of self-discontinuity (i.e., a sense of disconnect among temporal selves). We next turn to the brain regions that are activated synchronously with self-continuity. We consider developmental perspectives on self-continuity, discuss collective self-continuity (along with its consequences and regulatory properties), and elaborate on cultural differences in self-continuity. This inaugural Annual Reviews chapter demonstrates the breadth, excitement, and sense of synergy among self-continuity researchers and points to promising research directions.

Investigating the potential of sustainable use of green silica in the green tire industry: a review

Undoubtedly, with the increasing emission of greenhouse gases and non-biodegradable wastes as the consequence of over energy and material consumption, the demands for environmentally friendly products are of significant importance. Green tires, a superb alternative to traditional tires, could play a substantial part in environmental protection owing to lower toxic and harmful substances in their construction and their higher decomposition rate. Furthermore, manufacturing green tires using green silica as reinforcement has a high capacity to save energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions, pollution, and raw material consumption. Nevertheless, their production costs are expensive in comparison with conventional tires. In this review article, by studying green tires, the improvement of silica-rubber mixing, as well as the production of green silica from agricultural wastes, were investigated. Not only does the consumption of agricultural wastes save resources considerably, but it also could eventually lead to the reduction of silica production expenses. The cost of producing green silica is about 50% lower than producing conventional silica, and since it weighs about 17% of green silica tires, it can reduce the cost of producing green rubber. Accordingly, we claim that green silica has provided acceptable properties of silica in tires. Apart from the technical aspect, environmental and economic challenges are also discussed, which can ultimately be seen as a promising prospect for the use of green silica in the green tire industry.

Evaluating Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Delay Compensation Services in Intra-City Delivery—A Value Optimization Study Using Choice

Intra-city delivery has developed rapidly along with the expansion of the logistics industry. Timely delivery is one of the main requirements of consumers and has become a major challenge to delivery service providers. To compensate for the adverse effects of delivery delays, platforms have launched delay compensation services for consumers who order. This study quantitatively evaluated consumer perception of the delay compensation service in intra-city deliveries using a choice experiment. We explored how different attributes of the delay compensation service plan affect consumer preference and their willingness to pay for the services. These service attributes are “delay probability display”, “compensation amount”, “compensation method”, “penalty method for riders”, and “one-time order price”. Using a multinomial logit model to analyze the questionnaire results, the respondents showed a positive preference for on-time delivery probability display, progressive compensation amount, and cash compensation. The results also show that the respondents opposed the penalty scheme where the riders would bear the compensation costs. Positive preference attributes are conducive to enhancing consumers’ willingness to order and pay for the program. Based on our findings and research conclusions, we proposed several recommendations to improve the delay compensation service program.