Purpose

This 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/approach

A 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.

Findings

The 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/value

This 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.