Abstract
One third of all food produced globally is wasted or lost, even though this food is suitable for human consumption. Food waste has emerged as a critical contributor to climate change which is deemed a significant global concern by multiple commentators. There is a global consensus that food waste requires urgent intervention as signified by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12.3. Hospitals are deemed significant generators of food waste aligned to production and patient factors.
Whilst current research addresses causation of hospital food waste, interrogating aspects of the patient factors relating to hospital food waste, policy and environmental factors, there seems to be an evident gap in defining a multifactorial framework aimed to mitigate on hospital food waste. Therefore, this study was conducted to develop a framework for hospital food waste management, addressing the factors that impact on hospital food waste management.
This study investigated the interactions and impacts that the following six influencer factors had on hospital food waste management: (1) economic impact; (2) knowledge, attitude and behaviour (KAB); (3) social impact; (4) technological support; (5) regulations and (6) environmental impact. Regulations played a mediating role in the relationship between the initial influencing factors (economic impact, KAB, social impact, technological support, environmental impact) and the outcome (hospital food waste management). The study employed structured equation modelling to investigate the complex relationships between various influencing factors, the mediating role of regulations and hospital food waste management. Specifically, the research aimed to understand how knowledge, attitude, and behaviour; social impact and technological support influence hospital food waste management, with regulations acting as a mediator.
This research underpins theories, namely the Triple Bottom Line theory, the Theory of Planned Behaviour, Circular Economy theory, and the Waste Hierarchy to frame the knowledge base and analysis of hospital food waste management. The study provides a theoretically embedded framework that combines sustainability, behavioural, and systems-based perspectives on hospital food waste management...