Can one-click save the planet?

Sammanfattning: Reducing the ecological footprint and achieving environmental sustainability is regarded as one of the main goals of the world in recent decades. To achieve these goals, some practices in people’s life should be changed. As an essential part of human needs, food consumption is one of the practices that significantly impact environmental sustainability. In the last few decades, modern technologies, especially, digital devices and apps are presented as practical tools to achieve sustainable development by changing practices. As one of the raising concerns regarding environmental sustainability is about consumers' food purchasing. Consumers can contribute to reach UN Sustainable Development Goal 12 ("Responsible Consumption and Production") by changing their food purchasing practice sustainable. This study aims to understand how consumers' use of smartphone applications changes consumers' food purchasing practices in terms of environmental sustainability by using the qualitative research based on the ground theory. The influence of three food apps ("Karma," "Too Good To Go," "ICA") is studied with the help of empirical data from 15 semi-structured interviews. Practice theory and empirical data gained from the interviews show that consumers’ use of these applications makes changes in material, competence, meaning dimensions of consumers' food purchasing practice. It also shows that digitalization contributes to achieving sustainable food purchasing, namely purchasing sustainable food and non-purchasing practice. By using a smartphone app as a material, consumers can gain new knowledge and competencies in relation sustainability. These knowledge and techniques help consumers to accept sustainability as a new meaning in food purchasing practice. These changes make consumers to contribute sustainability by purchasing sustainable food, also avoiding unnecessary food purchasing that is a big step to achieve SDG12.