Global versus local framing of the issue of food waste: The role of Identification With All Humanity and the implications for climate change communication

Food waste is a major source of carbon emissions at the local and global levels. Effective public communication is essential for mitigation engagement. This study refers to the climate change communication literature to examine global versus local message framing and its interaction effects with a global identity—Identification With All Humanity (IWAH)—versus a local (American) identity on food waste mitigation behaviour. I propose that, due to its all‐inclusive nature, when IWAH is strong there will be no difference between reading a globally versus a locally framed message for intentions concerning food waste mitigation behaviour. By contrast, individuals with a weak IWAH will be less likely to engage in mitigation behaviour after reading the globally framed compared to the locally framed message, whereas a strong local (American) identity is hypothesized to induce higher mitigation engagement in the local framing condition than the global framing condition. Results showed no interaction effects except for one behavioural proxy measure, whereas IWAH was a consistent predictor of most of the mitigation behavioural intentions. The present research assesses IWAH with regards to climate change mitigation efforts and sheds light on the existing inconsistent findings about the effects of local versus global framing on climate change.