From trash to cash: the effect of product construal and benefit appeals on consumer evaluations of rescued meals

Purpose: Hospitality companies increasingly sell their unsold, or so-called rescued meals, on food waste reduction applications (e.g. Too Good To Go [TGTG]). The purpose of this research is to explore the influence of product construal and benefit appeals on consumer evaluations. Design/methodology/approach: Study 1 (N = 277 participants) is an online experiment with a 2 × 3 between subject design analyzed using ANOVA and planned contrast analysis. Study 2 is a 2 × 2 field experiment (N = 147 sold rescued food boxes) using chi-square tests for the main analysis. Findings: This study finds that an abstract product description (e.g. a magic box with an opaque content) matched with an environmental benefit appeal renders significantly higher consumer evaluations in comparison to when the same product is paired with financial benefits. In contrast, a concrete product presentation featuring financial benefits as opposed to environmental benefits increases consumer purchase intentions and willingness to pay. Research limitations/implications: We empirically show how the interaction and congruency between product construal and benefit appeals affect evaluations in a last-minute purchase context. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to look at the interactive effect between product construal and benefit appeals in a food waste and technology context.