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This research aims to investigate intrinsic and extrinsic product attributes as well as the relationship between these features and customer satisfaction by confirming the moderating role of competitive intensity.

The study is conceptual and exploratory in nature, drawing on current literature and real-time experience with conceptual framework development. The information was gathered by the face-to-face survey conducted with a sample of products, specialists and customers of the Iranian food industry. A total of 19 Kalleh products and 17 industry experts were selected to identify intrinsic and extrinsic product attributes as well as competition intensity for every product. For investigating the relationship between product attributes and customer satisfaction, 342 customers' viewpoints were received and analyzed.

The results show that the nature of competition moderates the effects of interaction between product attributes and customer satisfaction. The major findings of this research include (1) when competitive intensity is low, appropriate focus on intrinsic attributes can create better customer satisfaction; (2) When a competitive level is low, better focus on appropriate external attributes can lead to customer satisfaction; and (3) When competitive intensity is high, offering proper external attributes would lead to customer satisfaction if intrinsic attributes are already offered with high quality; (4) When competitive intensity is high and a firm is focusing more on intrinsic attributes, the lack of proper intrinsic attributes can negatively affect repurchase intentions.

The findings of this study can be used as a reference for food companies developing new products in various competitive environments and making the decision whether to focus on intrinsic or extrinsic attributes.