Who Walks the Walk and Talks the Talk? Understanding What Influences Sustainability Behaviour in Business and Leisure Travellers

While there is considerable research into what drives tourists to travel sustainably, little has been done to examine business travellers and how they differ from leisure travellers. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by looking to understand these differences and what drives them. Specifically, this paper looked to understand the influence that demographics, travel characteristics, and everyday behaviour (pro-ecological actions, frugal consumption patterns, and altruistic behaviours) have on sustainable travel behaviour, and if these influences held true for both business and leisure travellers. To facilitate this investigation, a quantitative study of 869 Canadian travellers in March of 2020 was undertaken. This research found that demographics and travel characteristics to contribute to the prediction of sustainable travel behaviour, but the greatest prediction power came from everyday behaviour. Beyond confirming that everyday behaviour is still the greatest indicator of sustainable travel domestically or abroad, this research found that this influence does not change whether the travel is for business or leisure.

Ultra-processed food and incident type 2 diabetes: studying the underlying consumption patterns to unravel the health effects of this heterogeneous food category in the prospective Lifelines cohort

Background The overall consumption of ultra-processed food (UPF) has previously been associated with type 2 diabetes. However, due to the substantial heterogeneity of this food category, in terms of their nutritional composition and product type, it remains unclear whether previous results apply to all underlying consumption patterns of UPF. Methods Of 70,421 participants (35–70 years, 58.6% women) from the Lifelines cohort study, dietary intake was assessed with a food frequency questionnaire. UPF was identified according to the NOVA classification. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to derive UPF consumption patterns. The associations of UPF and adherence to UPF consumption patterns with incidence of type 2 diabetes were studied with logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, diet quality, energy intake, alcohol intake, physical activity, TV watching time, smoking status, and educational level. Results During a median follow-up of 41 months, a 10% increment in UPF consumption was associated with a 25% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes (1128 cases; OR 1.25 [95% CI 1.16, 1.34]). PCA revealed four habitual UPF consumption patterns. A pattern high in cold savory snacks (OR 1.16 [95% CI 1.09, 1.22]) and a pattern high in warm savory snacks (OR 1.15 [95% CI 1.08, 1.21]) were associated with an increased risk of incident type 2 diabetes; a pattern high in traditional Dutch cuisine was not associated with type 2 diabetes incidence (OR 1.05 [95% CI 0.97, 1.14]), while a pattern high in sweet snacks and pastries was inversely associated with type 2 diabetes incidence (OR 0.82 [95% CI 0.76, 0.89]). Conclusions The heterogeneity of UPF as a general food category is reflected by the discrepancy in associations between four distinct UPF consumption patterns and incident type 2 diabetes. For better public health prevention, research is encouraged to further clarify how different UPF consumption patterns are related to type 2 diabetes.

Sustainable Value Chain of Industrial Biocomposite Consumption: Influence of COVID-19 and Consumer Behavior

The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most unprecedented crises of recent decades with a global effect on society and the economy. It has triggered changes in the behavior and consumption patterns of both final consumer and industrial consumers. The consumption patterns of industrial consumers are also influenced by changes in consumer values, environmental regulations, and technological developments. One of the technological highlights of the last decade is biocomposite materials being increasingly used by the packaging industry. The pandemic has highlighted the problems and challenges of the development of biocomposites to adapt to new market conditions. This study aims to investigate the industrial consumption of biocomposite materials and the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the main stages of the value chain of sustainable industrial consumption of biocomposites. The research results reveal there is a growing interest in the use of biocomposites. Suppliers and processors of raw materials are being encouraged to optimize and adapt cleaner production processes in the sustainable transition pathway. The study highlights the positive impact of COVID-19 on the feedstock production, raw material processing, and packaging manufacturing stages of the value chain as well as the neutral impact on the product manufacturing stage and negative impact on the retail stage. The companies willing to move toward the sustainable industrial chain have to incorporate economic, environmental, social, stakeholder, volunteer, resilience, and long-term directions within their strategies.

Changing Food Consumption Patterns and Land Requirements for Food in the Six Geopolitical Zones in Nigeria

Research on food consumption in Nigeria has mainly focused on food intake, household diversity, and purchasing power. We investigated a knowledge gap for food consumed by households and the land requirements for food resulting from household consumption patterns. The food consumed and the household size determine the land requirement for food. Therefore, a quantity-based analysis and a land demand methodology were applied to derive household food quantity and land requirements for food respectively. The results show that a greater percentage of household income is spent on cereals and starchy roots as the main source of calories and that cowpea is a secondary food option for households. In addition, households are changing their dietary intake from rice to maize and rice to cassava and yams as a cheaper alternative and experts’ measurements of food security at the household level indicates that households in our study are moderately food insecure. Other findings showthat the country’s specific and per capita land requirements for food have gradually increased between 2000 and 2018. Across the six geopolitical zones, Northern regions with higher populations have high land requirements for food, especially for rice and maize (cereals), while Southern regions have high land requirements for cassava and yams (starchy roots) due to their respective consumption and household sizes. In addition, from our study, the land requirements for food show the actual cropland area of South South fed 5000 households. Consequently, a scenario analysis shows that the land requirements for food in our study exceeds the entire geographical area of Nigeria. Therefore, continued population growth without improved living standards and adequate food production output per hectare will further exacerbate food insecurity and land shortage in Nigeria.

An Exploratory Study of the Purchase and Consumption of Beef: Geographical and Cultural Differences between Spain and Brazil

Beef consumption and production in Spain and Brazil are different with the consumption of beef in Brazil being three times higher than in Spain. In addition, there are variations in the economic value of production and in the traceability system. Therefore, the aim of this research was to understand the purchasing and consumption patterns using the customer behavior analysis technique of focus groups, which analyzed motivations for the consumption of beef, classifying their preferences by the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes at the time of purchase. The key aspect of the consumption of beef, both for Spanish and Brazilian consumers, was personal satisfaction/flavor. Spanish consumers were more conscious than Brazilians of the beneficial and harmful qualities that meat provides. The presence of fat was the factor that most restricted intake in both countries. The most important intrinsic attributes for Spanish and Brazilian consumers were the visual aspects of the meat: color, freshness, and the quantity and disposition of fat. The most important extrinsic characteristics were the price and expiration date. Spanish consumers see packaged meat as convenient and safe, although it is considered by Brazilians to be over-manipulated. The traceability certification on the label provides credibility to the product for the Spanish but only partially for Brazilians.

Remembering summer in the city: Production and consumption of yanqishui in twentieth-century Shanghai

By investigating the history of how yanqishui, originally a drink for factory heatstroke prevention, changed from welfare in the Mao years to a popular drink in post-socialist Shanghai, this article attempts to show the historical continuity of consumption in modern China and that the understanding of consumption patterns must be rooted in a local context. Using archives, local newspapers, memoirs, and interviews, the article explores the symbolic meanings of yanqishui before China’s 1978 reforms, which have left a deep impression on the Chinese masses and continuously impacted consumption thereafter. It argues that the popularity of yanqishui in contemporary Shanghai, to an extent, represents some kind of nostalgic consumption. However, instead of a nationwide sentiment, the nostalgia is sometimes local. As the biggest commercial center and then an industrial core in China’s modern history, Shanghai left people special memories on yanqishui that have greatly shaped the local consumer culture.