Sociology

Business

Pure mathematics

Practice theory

Theology

Consumption (sociology)

Mathematics

Social science

Karma

Buddhism

Biology

Marketing

Philosophy

Provisioning

Ecology

Computer science

Field (mathematics)

Telecommunications

Competition (biology)

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

New digital food platforms are being launched accompanied with the promise of also promoting more sustainable food consumption. However, despite some success, many of these efforts to digitally reconfigure consumers food practices fail. The aim of this paper is to empirically explore, conceptualize and explain such failures. Taking a practice theory approach, and drawing on a field experiment using the Karma app – an anti-food waste app – the paper shows that the inability of this app to promote a new way of acquiring food is due to glitches - app failures of different sorts - but also practice conflicts. Two types of practice conflicts, practice mismatch and practice competition, make the fostering of a new sustainable food provisioning practice difficult.

Digitally enabling sustainable food shopping: App glitches, practice conflicts, and digital failure