Nachhaltiger Lebensmittelkonsum : Erklärungsansätze für den Attitude-Behavior-Gap von Studierenden in Norddeutschland

The food sector is considered a major driver of global environmental change. To ensure sustainable development, radical changes in both food production and consumer behavior are inevitable. Despite increasing environmental awareness, there are discrepancies between positive attitudes toward sustainable food consumption and actual consumer behavior. This study explores the so-called attitude-behavior gap in the target group of young students from urban and rural areas. With the aid of 12 interviews, potential explanatory approaches are investigated and measures are outlined that could contribute to reducing these discrepancies. The main barriers that could be identified were additional effort and perceived higher prices of sustainable food. In addition, the lack of access to sustainable food constitutes a hurdle for students from rural regions. The study reveals that the desire for sustainable consumption represents highly complex decisions for students, often revealing conflicting goals and leading to decisions perceived by respondents themselves as suboptimal. Measures are required at various levels to reduce the discrepancies. Politically, frameworks must be established to facilitate sustainable food consumption. Companies and retailers should provide transparent information and make their product range more sustainable. Furthermore, it is crucial for consumers to make additional individual effort.