Interventions to reduce meat consumption in OECD countries: an understanding of differences in succes
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2018-08-20
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en
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Meat consumption has severe consequences for human health and animal well-being as well as for the environment and biodiversity. Therefore, a sharp reduction of people’s meat consumption levels is inevitable. Several developed countries have acknowledged this and have taken intervention measures accordingly. However, there happen to be great differences in the outcomes of the interventions. The aim of this paper is to provide a deeper understanding and explanation of differences in the success of different intervention methods in reducing the meat consumption in OECD countries. It does so by drawing from Shove et al.’s (2012) Social Practice Theory and De Vries et al.’s (1988) Attitude-Social-influence-Efficacy model. The resulting conceptual model is a framework that enables seeking for patterns of association between outcomes of the interventions and the behavioral determinants on which the interventions focus.
The systematic review of 43 evaluation articles shows that there is no one-size-fits-all intervention method that reduces meat consumption to a great extent. Rather, it is necessary to focus on more than one behavioral determinant. The practice determinant appears to be a vital determinant for interventions to focus on due to its susceptibility for constant long-term behavior change.
The most promising route to set intentions for reducing meat consumption is by focusing on the attitude and the self-efficacy determinant. That is, changing the individuals’ thoughts about the consequences of reducing meat consumption on, for instance, health, the environment and food experience has great potential for making individuals intend to eat less meat. Additionally, interventions are more effective when they are tailored to gender and meat consumer segments. Lastly, intentions may sustain and lead to actual behavior change when interventions are combined with interference at the point-of-purchase of meat (substitute) products.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen