Sustainable by Choice: What Influences University Student Consumption of Local Products?

Abstract

Consumer awareness of sustainable food has increased in recent years, with growing concern over the challenges related to sustainable food production and consumption. This study aims to identify the attitude factors influencing consumption of local sustainable food products among students at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). A survey was conducted from June to September 2023 involving 411 students exposed to food sustainability concepts. The structured questionnaire comprised four sections: A (Sociodemographic), B (Consumer Attitude), C (Attitude Factors including concern toward sustainability, healthy lifestyle, price, quality, and ethical labels), and D (Consumption of local sustainable food products). Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation) and Spearman’s Correlation were used for data analysis. Among the respondents, 240 exhibited high attitudes, 128 moderate, and 43 low attitudes toward local sustainable food. The findings indicated that ethical labels on food packaging (x̅ = 4.13 ± 0.18) and actual consumption (x̅ = 4.21 ± 0.14) received the highest agreement. Other influencing factors included concern for sustainability (x̅ = 3.77 ± 0.26), healthy lifestyle (x̅ = 3.91 ± 0.08), price (x̅ = 3.54 ± 0.20), and quality (x̅ = 3.80 ± 0.03). Spearman’s correlation test showed a significant positive relationship (p < 0.05) between all five attitude factors and consumption behaviour. Ethical labels showed the strongest correlation (r = 0.557), followed by healthy lifestyle (r = 0.481), concern toward sustainability (r = 0.459), quality (r = 0.425), and price (r = 0.316). The results suggest that all identified factors significantly influence students’ consumption of local sustainable food products. These findings imply that local food producers should recognize these behavioural drivers to better align their offerings with the preferences of young, sustainability-conscious consumers.