Willingness to reduce food choice in favour of sustainable alternatives: the role of government and consumer behaviour

Despite greater emphasis being placed on research into ethical consumer behaviour, there is still no clear view of the magnitude of willingness to reduce food choices in favour of sustainable alternatives (WTRFCIFOSA), while the role of government is also under the microscope, more specifically how willing it is to take the initiative in keeping only organic food on the shelves. This study advances a new concept by theorising “willingness to reduce food choices for sustainable alternatives”. The concept emerged from assessing consumer behaviour, ethical attributes, health attributes, and the roles played by both government and food producers in relation to naturalness. It is theorised that WTRFCIFOSA would lead to the consumption of natural and organic food. At present, consumers themselves have no willingness to switch to organic consumption. Moreover, ethical and health attributes, government, and food producers have no significant impact on convincing consumers to opt for organic/natural food. It is therefore suggested that governments should introduce the concept of mandatory consumption of sustainable alternatives by reducing the range of unnatural and less ethical food choices for consumers, because naturalness is a significant moderator in the process