Investigation of The Impact of Religiosity on Food Waste

OpenAlex Türkçe

Food waste remains one of the most critical global economic challenges, heavily driven by consumer habits and behaviors. While research in this field is growing, the subject still demands deeper exploration. At the heart of this study lies the concept of religiosity, a fundamental element that shapes how consumers act. Although the impact of various faiths on waste has been documented, the role of Islamic religiosity—despite Islam’s explicit prohibition of waste—has not been sufficiently addressed in the literature. This study aims to fill this gap by analyzing the influence of "Traditional" and "Popular" religiosity types on food waste among consumers in Türkiye. The findings reveal that traditional religiosity has a moderate, positive correlation with waste-avoidance behaviors during shopping, consumption, and packaging stages. In contrast, popular religiosity shows a lower, yet still positive, correlation with these behaviors. Ultimately, these results highlight the transformative power of spiritual values on sustainable consumption and demonstrate how different forms of religious expression play distinct roles in preventing food waste.