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2020 Thomas C. Kinnear/Journal of Public Policy & Marketing Award

The Journal of Public Policy & Marketing (JPP&M) is pleased to award the 2020 Thomas C. Kinnear Award to The Squander Sequence: Understanding Food Waste at Each Stage of the Consumer Decision-Making Process,” which appeared in the September 2016 issue (Vol. 35, No. 2) of JPP&M. The article was authored by a team that included Lauren G. Block, Punam A. Keller, Beth Vallen, Sara Williamson, Mia M. Birau, Amir Grinstein, Kelly L. Haws, Monica C. LaBarge, Cait Lamberton, Elizabeth S. Moore, Emily M. Moscato, Rebecca Walker Reczek, and Andrea Heintz Tangari.

Of their choice, the review committee stated,

“The ‘Squander Sequence’ article investigates the problem of food waste. Despite the complexity of the problem, the Committee believed this research provided a framework that is elegant and clear, yet sufficiently comprehensive, to aid in our understanding of the key policy and research issues. The authors make a broad contribution to advancing knowledge, theory, and practice. High-impact and generative research collaboration, such as that demonstrated in this article, sparks policy ideas, conversation, and future research with the power to advance well-being at the individual and societal level.”

Coauthor Cait Lamberton drew on her real-world policy experience when writing this article. “Working as part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Commission on Reducing Food Waste, I became aware that although scholars from economics, food science, nutrition, and sociology have devoted decades of study to the topic of food waste, marketing has been curiously slow to offer a framework for this highly consumption-relevant problem,” Lamberton notes. “The ‘Squander Sequence’ paper offered a broad depiction of the frameworks that consumer researchers would contribute to the conceptualization and reduction of food waste, and offers a bridge for future interdisciplinary work.”

Questions surrounding issues of food and food policy have become more prevalent in JPP&M in recent years. In fact, in April 2019, the journal published a special issue on food and well-being.

Named after JPP&M’s founding editor, Thomas C. Kinnear, the award honors articles that make the most significant contribution to the understanding of marketing and public policy issues within a three year time period. (For a list of previous award winners, click here.) JPP&M coeditors Scot Burton, Pam Scholder Ellen, and Joshua L. Wiener oversaw the selection process.

In addition to the winning article, the other excellent finalists for the award were as follows:

Assessing the Societal Impact of Research: The Relational Engagement Approach, Julie L. Ozanne, Brennan Davis, Jeff B. Murray, Sonya Grier, Ahmed Benmecheddal, Hilary Downey, Akon E. Ekpo, Marion Garnier, Joel Hietanen, Marine Le Gall-Ely, Anastasia Seregina, Kevin D. Thomas, Ekant Veer | Volume 36, Issue 1 (April 2017)

Dog Parks and Coffee Shops: Faux Diversity and Consumption in Gentrifying Neighborhoods, Sonya A. Grier, Vanessa G. Perry | Volume 37, Issue 1 (April 2018)

Omission and Commission as Marketplace Trauma, Aronté Marie Bennett, Stacey Menzel Baker, Samantha Cross, J.P. James, Gregory Bartholomew, Akon E. Ekpo, Geraldine Rosa Henderson, Martina Hutton, Apoorv Khare, Abhijit Roy, Tony Stovall, and Charles Ray Taylor | Volume 35, Issue 2 (September 2016)

About Journal of Public Policy & Marketing

The Journal of Public Policy & Marketing is a forum for understanding the nexus of marketing and public policy, with each issue featuring a wide-range of topics, including, but not limited to, ecology, ethics and social responsibility, nutrition and health, regulation and deregulation, security and privacy.

About the American Marketing Association

As the largest chapter-based marketing association in the world, the American Marketing Association (AMA) is trusted by marketing and sales professionals to help them discover what’s coming next in the industry. The AMA has a community of local chapters in more than 70 cities and 350 college campuses throughout North America, as well as an academic membership that spans the globe. The AMA is home to award-winning content, PCM® professional certification, premier academic journals, and industry-leading training events and conferences.