# Tunisian food-waste survey separates intention from measured waste reduction

> Responses from 919 household shoppers link attitudes and perceived control to prevention intentions, with important limits on what the lifestyle findings can show.

URL: https://foodradar.org/tunisia-household-food-waste-intentions-survey
Language: en
Author: FoodRadar Editorial
Published: 2026-10-07T11:40:11.584Z
Updated: 2026-10-07T11:40:11.584Z
Source publication date: 2026-08-18
Category: Sustainability
Türkçe: https://foodradar.org/tr/tunisia-household-food-waste-intentions-survey

## Understanding willingness before claiming an outcome

A new analysis of household shoppers in Greater Tunis finds that attitudes were the strongest modelled predictor of intention to reduce food waste. The August paper extends a behavioural framework with sustainable-marketing and food-lifestyle measures. It explores why people say they want to prevent waste; it does not demonstrate how many kilograms an intervention kept out of the bin.

The survey was conducted in 2022 across Tunis, Ben Arous, Manouba and Ariana. Researchers retained 919 valid responses from adults fully or partly responsible for household food purchasing. Participants were recruited face to face at supermarkets, transport areas, universities and other public locations using convenience sampling, so the results are not statistically representative of Tunisia as a whole.

## Attitudes and practical confidence were connected

The structural model associated favourable attitudes and perceived behavioural control with stronger prevention intentions. Social expectations did not have a direct relationship with intention in the model, but were linked indirectly through attitudes and perceived control. The findings suggest that a person’s own evaluation and sense of ability deserve attention alongside messages about what others expect.

Sustainable-marketing measures were also associated with those intermediate factors. However, this was not a randomised campaign trial. The model does not prove that exposing a household to a particular advertisement will cause it to waste less food. It identifies relationships in survey responses that could inform the design of an intervention to be tested subsequently.

## The lifestyle measure was narrower than its name

Food-related lifestyle showed a negative relationship with attitudes and intentions in the reported model. That result could be misleading if read as a verdict on all food involvement or meal habits. The authors explain that this construct was measured with only two indicators addressing sensory and social meal characteristics.

It did not comprehensively measure planning, price awareness, preparation or purchasing routines. The finding therefore applies to the dimensions actually included, rather than establishing that every kind of food-oriented lifestyle discourages waste prevention. The paper recommends broader future measurement because different lifestyle dimensions could have different, even opposing, relationships with intentions.

## Test practical support against actual behaviour

The authors propose combining awareness with support for food planning and management. That recommendation is a direction for future intervention work, not a demonstrated effect of the survey itself. Reported attitudes and behaviour can also be influenced by social desirability, especially when respondents know that reducing waste is a positively viewed goal.

For retailers and community programmes, the study offers questions to investigate locally: do people consider prevention worthwhile, feel able to act and have suitable routines? Follow-up research should connect those answers to observed household practices and measured waste, with broader regional sampling. The contribution is a more detailed account of prevention intentions in one metropolitan setting, while the step from intention to a verified reduction remains open.

## Sources and rights

- [Drivers of Household Food Waste Reduction Intentions: Integrating Sustainable Marketing and Food-Related Lifestyle into the Theory of Planned Behaviors-Evidence from Tunisia.](https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13512452?utm_source=foodradar.org&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_content=tunisia-household-food-waste-intentions-survey-en). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI). Yangui A, Ouertani E, Gandouzi G. Drivers of Household Food Waste Reduction Intentions: Integrating Sustainable Marketing and Food-Related Lifestyle into the Theory of Planned Behaviors-Evidence from Tunisia. Foods (Basel, Switzerland). 2026. DOI: 10.3390/foods15162880. © 2026 by the authors. [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/?utm_source=foodradar.org&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_content=tunisia-household-food-waste-intentions-survey-en-license).

Adapted by FoodRadar.

[Editorial standards](https://foodradar.org/editorial-policy)