Social influence and reduction of animal protein consumption among young adults: Insights from a socio-psychological model

Abstract

Studying the drivers of animal protein consumption (APC), beyond just meat consumption, is of great importance as reducing APC has a high potential to mitigate climate change and other environmental issues. One known determinant of food behavior is the social environment. However, in pro-environmental literature, social contacts' influence on meat consumption is often limited to normative influence (social norms). Moreover, when social influence on other pro-environmental food behavior is examined, only the direct association without possibly underlying mechanisms and mostly short-term behaviors rather than usual dietary patterns are addressed. This study addresses these gaps by examining the pathways of mechanisms behind the influence of perceived APC reduction behavior by close social contacts on behavior - in our case self-reported APC behavior (social influence) among young adults (age 18–35). We propose a conceptual model that integrates traditional social influence theories from communication science and social psychological theories and considers social contacts' behavior an antecedent of TPB and NAM constructs. Cross-sectional survey data, including egocentric network data, were collected in January 2022 through an online citizen panel among 204 young adults. The results of Partial Least Squares – Structural Equation Modeling suggest that social contacts' perceived APC reduction behavior influences multiple psychological constructs beyond social norms (awareness of consequences, perceived behavioral control, social norms, and attitude) simultaneously. All constructs except for social norms are internalized into a personal norm, which then leads to an increased intention to reduce APC and a decreased self-reported APC. Altogether, our study identified mechanisms behind social influence, which can also be applied to other behaviors. Leveraging close social contacts may be a promising pathway for policy and changemakers to stimulate the internalization of psychological constructs related to APC reduction.