Food waste separation intention among the residential students: Moderation role of university support

Abstract

The university has made efforts to promote campus sustainability by encouraging food waste separation among residential students. However, the effect of university support on students' behavioural intentions in this context remains understudied. Moreover, the evidence regarding residential students’ food waste separation intention is relatively deficient compared to other study contexts. To address these gaps, this study aims to achieve two objectives: (1) to investigate the constructs affecting residential students to separate food waste, and (2) to study the moderating effect of university support on the proposed relationships. A novel research framework which integrates environmental knowledge and moral norms into the theory of planned behaviour model, together with the university support as moderator, has been proposed. Primary data from 191 residential students in Malaysia were collected through purposive sampling and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The study’s findings revealed that students’ intentions to separate food waste are influenced by attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and moral norms. Besides, the moderation analysis confirmed that university support significantly strengthen the relationship between attitude and intention to separate food waste in the university context. This finding offered valuable theoretical contributions regarding the moderation role of university support and provides practical implications for promote positive food waste behaviours among residential students.