Influencing others to prevent hospitality food waste: The reception of food waste messages by hospitality employees

Hospitality employees play a crucial role in food waste prevention, yet there is little understanding of how employees can influence the way food waste is thought about and dealt with within their workplace. To address this gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 UK hospitality actors, including frontline employees, managers and business owners to understand how they influence others, and have been influenced by others, to prevent food waste. We analyse the data through a sensemaking lens, which shows that food waste messages are received and made sense of instantly, or with delay due to exposure over time, or when the time is right. This reception process is active or passive, and congruent or incongruent, which has implications for whether food waste messages are understood as intended and the behavioural outcomes of the reception process. Developing a more comprehensive understanding of how food waste messages are received, understood and enacted has implications for food waste communications and how hospitality actors can influence the way food waste is thought about and dealt with within their workplace. • How food waste messages are received depends on whether it is the right time. • Incongruent and active reception may result in unintended behaviours. • Congruent and active reception leads to behaviour change and a domino effect. • Incongruent and passive reception reportedly results in no behaviour change. • Congruent and passive reception results in increased awareness of food waste.