Possibilities and constraints of selected approaches to boost sustainable consumption

The food sector has a significant impact on anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, across Europe and in Germany. A misguided food system alone could continue to prevent us from meeting the climate target of the Paris Climate Agreement of 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming. After retail, out-of-home catering is the second largest sales channel for food in Germany. This means that out-of-home catering has a decisive role to play when it comes to transforming the food system towards improved sustainability. Calculations show that consumers in particular can have a greater influence on environmental change through their behavior than producers. In order to positively “nudge” this consumer behavior in out-of-home catering, the concept of nudging is applied in this work. The aim of this dissertation is to show that the use of nudges can steer the food choice behavior of guests in out-of-home gastronomy towards more sustainability. With the four articles included, this dissertation contributes to the scientific discussion of nudging to promote sustainable food choice behavior and the underlying preferences of consumers when choosing food in canteens. This dissertation aims to answer two research questions: (i) How effective are nudges for increasing sales of sustainable dishes in the out-of-home catering sector?, (ii) What are possible hurdles for caterers when introducing nudges to increase sales of sustainable dishes in the out-of-home catering sector? The first part looks at the importance and development of the out-of-home catering market. This is followed by an explanation of the relevant factors influencing food choice and the underlying biases that influence our behavior. This is where the concept of nudging takes hold, which is first defined and then applied in the following empirical articles. The second part comprises the content and results of the empirical articles in four individual sections. The first article examines, during a dinner setting with six courses, what influence nudging can have on the (taste) perception of food and therefore to what extent consumers can be influenced by nudges. The second article looks at the underlying preferences when choosing food in canteens and examines the importance of ordering systems, menu variety and the desired food composition. The third and fourth articles examine the influence of nudging on sustainable food choices via several real-world laboratory studies. The most sustainable dishes of the day at various partners from out-of-home catering are provided with targeted nudges using a harmonized design and examined for their effectiveness. The third part classifies the contributions of the four scientific articles to answering the two research questions and discusses relevant theoretical and methodological aspects. An outlook concludes this dissertation and outlines the need for further research in this field.