Some people make the decision to adopt vegan or vegetarian diets easily, sometimes spurred by an eye-opening incident or information. For others, the process of reducing meat in their diets involves multiple stages and factors. This paper, published in Appetite, investigates the use of a “stage model” of behavior change, a model outlining the various phases that people go through when changing a behavior, in this case, to reduce beef consumption.

The author used a well-known but relatively new model developed by Sebastian Bamberg that consists of four stages: a predecision stage in which the individual addresses the question of why a change is necessary; a preaction stage in which they assess what specific types of changes should be made; an action stage in which they determine how to implement their chosen behavior; and a postaction stage in which the new behavior is stabilized.

The author conducted two online surveys in Norway including questions about meat consumption (specifically, beef) from the previous week. Other questions were designed to detect which of the four stages participants were currently in and measure different variables associated with the stages. More questions focused on attitudes and intentions for three alternative behaviors: reduction of portion size of meat, substitution with other meats or seafood, and vegetarian meals.

Analysis of results indicated that, at the predecision stage, the intention to reduce beef was strongly determined by perceived social norms (e.g. “people who are important to me…think that I should eat less beef”) and awareness of negative consequences of beef consumption on the environment, health, and food sustainability. For the preaction stage, the strongest determinant of choosing an alternative behavior was attitudes about the extent to which each behavior was positive and beneficial.

For the action stage, which related to questions on planning ability, implementation intention to choose vegetarian meals was negatively impacted by participants not knowing where to get vegetarian food or how to prepare it. Finally, for the postaction stage, which related to a question on recent reduction of beef, implementation intentions to substitute alternative meat or vegetarian food reduced the amount of beef eaten significantly, but intentions to reduce meat portion size did not.

Additionally, a second analysis based on current stages of participants showed that, as expected, participants only reduced beef consumption at the postaction stage. A comparison to the amount of beef that they had eaten the week before also showed that those currently in the postaction stage ate significantly less meat than those at the other stages.

The author concludes that the stage model has “promising potential as a structuring framework for analyzing and supporting consumers in self-regulated diet changes.” He recommends that advocates use the model to easily diagnose which stage consumers are in (this was determined by a single survey question) and tailor information for specific levels as follows:

• Consumers in the predecision stage could “benefit from more awareness of consequences of their current consumption behavior and stronger social norms to change”
• Consumers in the preaction stage need support identifying an alternative that they perceive as both positive and relatively easy to implement
• Consumers in the action stage need concrete implementation advice, particularly on finding and preparing vegetarian food
• Consumers in the postaction stage need support in keeping up with changed consumption behavior