1. Food Waste Problem and Ugly Food
As of 2020, the average amount of food waste produced by one person worldwide per year is 65 kg, of which approximately 25% is vegetables, 24% cereals, and 12% fruits
[1]. Dou and Toth
[2] emphasized that it is essential to analyze and deeply understand why, where, and how these food wastes are generated to ensure a better future.
Regarding this food waste problem, Papargyropoulou et al.
[3] studied the issue of oversupply of food and waste and emphasized that supply distributed through food supply chains should be fundamentally reduced to decrease food waste. Stancu et al.
[4] studied Danish food waste behavior and revealed that routines are the most important factors affecting individuals’ food waste behaviors. Chen et al.
[1] studied 151 countries worldwide to determine various losses from food waste. Developed countries have shown several times higher food waste losses than underdeveloped countries, especially in East Asian countries, and the amount of vegetable loss is high
[1]. Aldaco et al.
[5] analyzed the problem of food waste in Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic and emphasized the need to improve the sustainable distribution supply chain to more efficiently manage discarded food. Dhir et al.
[6] comprehensively reviewed related previous studies on the problem of food waste in the hospitality industry. Their review revealed that the main keywords for the food waste problem were “hotspots”, “leftover handling”, “stage of generation”, and “nudges”.
Hartmann et al.
[7] emphasized the importance of consuming ugly agricultural products to solve the food waste problem and analyzed measures to increase consumers’ ugly food choices. Xu et al.
[8] emphasized that promotional activities for ugly food are urgently needed to reduce food waste. Qi et al.
[9] also argued that more diverse promotional activities are urgently needed to change the negative perception of ugly food to a more positive view and studied marketing strategies to increase ugly food sales.
In addition, studies on the food waste problem have been conducted widely in various countries and have yielded diverse results owing to different theories and analysis methods. In particular, there are more studies analyzing the many causes of food waste than there are discussing solutions to the food waste problem
[3][4][10][11].
2. Protection Motivation Theory
The PMT, first presented by Rogers
[12] to help explain the influence of fear, states that some stimuli affect individuals’ threat appraisal and coping appraisal, which eventually stimulate protection motivation, leading to behaviors
[12]. PMT predicts changes in human behavior based on two perspectives of environmental fear appeal and personality: environmental fear is represented by threat appraisal, and personality is represented by coping appraisal
[13]. Threat appraisal consists of the two sub-concepts severity and vulnerability. More specifically, threat appraisal is an individual’s estimation of the level of threat
[14]. Coping appraisal is a concept that explains recommended behavior to reduce threats, and also consists of two sub-concepts: response efficacy and self-efficacy
[14]. This theory was evaluated as a model that can accurately predict human decision-making processes and behaviors
[15].
PMT has been applied in various fields; in particular, studies have been widely conducted on social issues, such as disasters and health. Al-Rasheed
[16] studied protection motivation behavior against the COVID-19 pandemic in Kuwait. Trust in the government and perceived severity, vulnerability, response efficacy, and self-efficacy have been shown to increase protection motivation behaviors among Kuwaitis. Kim and Crimmins
[17] studied the different behaviors of younger and older people regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and revealed differences by age. Additionally, Okuhara et al.
[18] studied the psychological factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic by applying the PMT. Japanese individuals’ perceived severity and self-efficacy were shown to enhance individuals’ experiences of staying at home. However, perceived vulnerability and response efficacy did not have a significant effect on Japanese behavior.
In addition, this theory has been applied to environmental issues, such as various waste problems, which have been considered another social issue in recent years. Janmaimool
[19] studied sustainable waste management and analyzed respondents’ reuse and recycling, waste avoidance, waste disposal, and green purchasing behaviors, focusing on Bangkok, Thailand. Tchetchik et al.
[20] studied the consumption and recycling reduction behavior due to COVID-19 in Israel by applying PMT. Yusoff and Asmuni
[21] studied waste management behavior, focusing on Malaysia.