The Public Service Workers' experience balancing welfare and environmental sustainability goals - A qualitative case study of school meals in Helsingborg.
(2025) SMMM40 20251Department of Service Studies
- Abstract
- There is a growing emphasis on sustainability in Swedish public school meal provisioning.
While the body of research has focused on food waste reduction, nutritional outcomes, and quantifying policy impact, there is little focus on the experience of the public service workers who are involved in providing the school meals. The unique challenge these public service workers face lies in balancing the policy guidelines framed at the national level, the city’s sustainability targets, and the roles within the school where the meals are prepared. This study aims to understand how the public service workers working with public school meals in Helsingborg balance them and what barriers they overcome.
Using a qualitative case study approach, data... (More) - There is a growing emphasis on sustainability in Swedish public school meal provisioning.
While the body of research has focused on food waste reduction, nutritional outcomes, and quantifying policy impact, there is little focus on the experience of the public service workers who are involved in providing the school meals. The unique challenge these public service workers face lies in balancing the policy guidelines framed at the national level, the city’s sustainability targets, and the roles within the school where the meals are prepared. This study aims to understand how the public service workers working with public school meals in Helsingborg balance them and what barriers they overcome.
Using a qualitative case study approach, data is collected from 18 participants across 10 interviews and one focus group discussion. The data collected from kitchen staff, kitchen leaders, teachers, school principals, and city administrative staff is analyzed through the theoretical lens of
street-level bureaucracy, servicescape, and emotional labor. The findings from the study reveal that the balance is achieved through the implementation of various strategies or coping mechanisms applied in the kitchen area, serving line, and dining area by the kitchen staff and teachers. They also face barriers such as: a) the lunch schedule and the physical layout, b) lack of collaboration and role ambiguity, and c) students' attitude. The role of the school principal is found
to significantly influence the level of cooperation between the kitchen and the rest of the school.
The results of this study are mainly found in line with the small pool of previous research focused on school meals in Sweden. The need to share the responsibility for the outcomes of the school meals across the different actors within the school system emerges as the conclusion. The focus on the public service worker’s experience in handling the multiple demands of policy adherence, environmental goal achievement, and fulfillment of job requirements can be a valuable
input for policymakers, managers of meal service, and school principals to improve the working conditions for the workers, and outcomes for the society. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9208670
- author
- Srinivasan, Vaishnavi LU and Elias Garcia, Esther Alheli LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SMMM40 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Swedish public-school meals, Balance, Policy implementation, Sustainability goals, Barriers, public service worker experience, Service management.
- language
- English
- id
- 9208670
- date added to LUP
- 2025-08-04 11:17:25
- date last changed
- 2025-08-04 11:21:10
@misc{9208670,
abstract = {{There is a growing emphasis on sustainability in Swedish public school meal provisioning.
While the body of research has focused on food waste reduction, nutritional outcomes, and quantifying policy impact, there is little focus on the experience of the public service workers who are involved in providing the school meals. The unique challenge these public service workers face lies in balancing the policy guidelines framed at the national level, the city’s sustainability targets, and the roles within the school where the meals are prepared. This study aims to understand how the public service workers working with public school meals in Helsingborg balance them and what barriers they overcome.
Using a qualitative case study approach, data is collected from 18 participants across 10 interviews and one focus group discussion. The data collected from kitchen staff, kitchen leaders, teachers, school principals, and city administrative staff is analyzed through the theoretical lens of
street-level bureaucracy, servicescape, and emotional labor. The findings from the study reveal that the balance is achieved through the implementation of various strategies or coping mechanisms applied in the kitchen area, serving line, and dining area by the kitchen staff and teachers. They also face barriers such as: a) the lunch schedule and the physical layout, b) lack of collaboration and role ambiguity, and c) students' attitude. The role of the school principal is found
to significantly influence the level of cooperation between the kitchen and the rest of the school.
The results of this study are mainly found in line with the small pool of previous research focused on school meals in Sweden. The need to share the responsibility for the outcomes of the school meals across the different actors within the school system emerges as the conclusion. The focus on the public service worker’s experience in handling the multiple demands of policy adherence, environmental goal achievement, and fulfillment of job requirements can be a valuable
input for policymakers, managers of meal service, and school principals to improve the working conditions for the workers, and outcomes for the society.}},
author = {{Srinivasan, Vaishnavi and Elias Garcia, Esther Alheli}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The Public Service Workers' experience balancing welfare and environmental sustainability goals - A qualitative case study of school meals in Helsingborg.}},
year = {{2025}},
}