Investigating consumers' behavioral intentions toward suboptimal produce: an extended theory of planned behavior – a cross-cultural study

• Published in: British food journal (1966) Vol. 124; no. 1; pp. 99 - 139
• Main Authors: Adel, Ahmed M, Dai, Xin, Roshdy, Rana S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford Emerald Publishing Limited 03.01.2022; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Consciousness; Consumer behavior; Consumers; Environmental perception; Familiarity; Food; Food consumption; Food products; Food waste; Fruits; Health risks; Multivariate statistical analysis; Perception; Perceptions; Quantitative research; Risk perception; Risk taking; Supply chains; Theory of planned behavior; Vegetables; Europe; Pro-environmental behavior; Food waste behavior; Theory of planned behavior; Sustainability; China; Egypt
• ISSN: 0007-070X; 1758-4108
• DOI: 10.1108/BFJ-03-2021-0211

PurposeThis study extends the theory of planned behavior (TPB) through the inclusion of motivating variables for suboptimal produce preference (i.e. environmental concern, food waste awareness, and familiarity), and demotivating variables (i.e. health consciousness and risk perception) to investigate behavioral intentions toward suboptimal produce.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative research methodology using the online survey technique is employed to collect cross-cultural data from respondents from China (n = 430) and Egypt (n = 441). Structural equation modeling (SEM) via SmartPLS v.3.2.9 is used to analyze data.FindingsThe proposed extended TPB model could enhance predicting consumers' behavioral intentions toward suboptimal produce except for “environmental concern” since it has been found that environmental concern has a nonsignificant effect on consumers' attitudes and behavioral intentions toward suboptimal produce in both countries. The results also reveal that the proposed extended TPB constructs could predict 79.9% of intentions to purchase suboptimal produce and 65.3% of the variance in intentions to recommend such produce for others.Originality/valueThis study is one of the few attempts that investigates the suboptimal food consumption based on a theoretical lens by extending the TPB model. Previous studies on suboptimal food do not pay attention to the demotivating variables such as health consciousness and risk perception, and thus, this thesis represents the first effort that sheds light on such variables. Moreover, prior investigation on such issues in Egypt and China as a cross-cultural research has not existed.