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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the moderating effect of consumer involvement level in the influence exerted by perceived quality on consumer perceived risk, trust, satisfaction and loyalty. The paper seeks to conduct this analysis for a protected designation of origin (PDO) food product, the cured ham “Jamón de Teruel”. This analysis aims to distinguish perceived quality in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic attributes of PDO.

Data were obtained using a structured questionnaire. Specifically, consumers were asked to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with a series of statements based on a seven‐point Likert scale. After completion of fieldwork, an analytic process (exploratory and confirmatory reliability analysis) was performed to obtain 441 valid questionnaires. A multi‐sample model was applied to analyse the effect level of consumer involvement in the proposed model.

The results suggest that the influence of quality attributes on consumers' perceived risk, trust, satisfaction and loyalty is substantially different between consumers with a high involvement level and consumers with low involvement. In addition, substantial differences were also found in the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic quality attributes on the model being analysed. The results of the analysis show that for the group of highly involved consumers the influence of both intrinsic and extrinsic perceived quality on the consumers' loyalty level is clearly higher.

Managers of PDO food products need to understand how consumer involvement level regarding their products influences consumers' decision‐making processes. Thus, PDO managers should take advantage of the situation that those highly involved consumers in this kind of product are more receptive to their advertisements. Moreover, promotion of PDO food products based on the quality, tradition and know‐how of certain brands may make the consumer reach higher attention levels in an easier manner, so that their loyalty levels towards the brands will be reinforced.

The paper analyses the moderating effect of consumer involvement of a traditional PDO food product. There is a lack of literature that focuses on the influence of consumer involvement of food products in consumer behaviour patterns. The paper tries to advance this important research line.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the role of gender, food health involvement, and food health information competency in predicting consumer food health information seeking.

A conceptual model for predicting consumer food health information seeking is proposed. The predicting constructs are general food health involvement, general food health competency, product‐specific health involvement, and product‐specific food health competency. The relationships between construct are estimated using structural equation modelling. Data were collected in a nationally representative consumer‐panel among 504 Danish consumers using a questionnaire.

The results suggest that improving consumers' general food health involvement may only lead to increased product‐specific health information seeking if consumers at the same time are involved in the specific product category. The results also revealed that women are generally more food health involved than men but did not support previous research suggesting that women also are more knowledgeable about healthy food and that they more often seek product‐specific food health‐related information.

This research concentrated on analysing one food product, salad dressing. A large cross‐section of products ought to be studied to improve the generalizability of the obtained result and thus future research may wish to incorporate a wider range of food products.

The results suggest that food authorities and/or food marketers seeking to promote a healthy life‐style should consider providing examples of healthy product categories (food authorities) and/or particular products (food marketers) along with their general health information.

This paper empirically investigates gender along with a number of mental constructs for the purpose of understanding consumers' food health information seeking. Also, the paper explores age and educational level as possible moderating variables of the consumer food health information seeking process.

The importance of packaging design as a vehicle for communication and branding is growing in competitive markets for packaged food products. This research utilized a focus group methodology to understand consumer behavior toward such products and how packaging elements can affect buying decisions. Visual package elements play a major role, representing the product for many consumers, especially in low involvement, and when they are rushed. Most focus group participants say they use label information, but they would like it if simplified. The challenge for researchers is to integrate packaging into an effective purchasing decision model, by understanding packaging elements as important marketing communications tools. Propositions for future research are proposed which will help in developing better understanding of consumer response to packaging elements.

This study aims to explore the relative effectiveness of a human celebrity endorser vis‐à‐vis a fictional celebrity or character endorser on teenage consumers' attitudes. Further, the study also seeks to assess whether the effectiveness varies depending on the nature of the product being endorsed.

Given the purpose of the study, experimental design was used as the research methodology. In an experimental set‐up three product categories (low‐involvement food/low‐involvement non‐food/high‐involvement) and two endorsers (human celebrity/fictional celebrity) and a control group were deployed in a 3×3 full factorial design on 378 teenagers. Fictitious advertisements were used as stimuli.

The study suggests that, for food and non‐food low‐involvement product categories, the impact of a human celebrity is more than that of a fictional celebrity. Regarding the purchase intentions of teenagers, it was found that a human celebrity is more effective than a fictional celebrity in food and non‐food low‐involvement products. In the case of the high‐involvement product, the human celebrity was not found to create favorable consumer attitudes.

The study results suggest that celebrity endorsements are useful, but the nature of the product also has an influence on success. One limitation of the study was the restriction to print advertisements.

A major implication from the findings for the managers is that a human celebrity may not always be the right choice for any product promotion for teenagers. More specifically, for high‐involvement products, celebrity endorsement needs to be handled with caution since it may not prove to be successful.

The contribution of the study is in addressing an area that has not been very well researched as yet, and in addressing a research question that has not been investigated properly.

The purpose of this paper is to understand what motivates consumers, in particular consumers of local food products or locavores, to purchase in local retail channels vs traditional supermarkets. Using the Theory of Reasoned Action, and reviewing the literature on traceability, social relationships, involvement, values, motivation, and distribution channels, the authors propose a model explaining the antecedents and consequences of local food consumption for both locavores and traditional supermarket consumers.

Face to face interviews were conducted in supermarket and farmers market contexts in a mid-sized city in France. A structural equation modelling was used to explain the relationship between the examined variables.

The results suggest that consumers in traditional food distribution channels are not very involved with local food products. Alternatively, this research shows that for locavores, traceability and social links are positively related to involvement with local food products, which lowers price perceptions and positively influences utilitarian shopping value.

The research provides a first empirical and academic perspective on local food consumption within different food retail channels in Europe. Much of the recent results on locavores and their behaviours have been conducted in North America and/or have remained rather conceptual.

Ingredient branding (IB) strategy and incremental product innovation (IPI) strategy are frequently used complementary strategies in food product marketing to build brand equity. The purpose of this paper is to assist managers in choosing between both the strategies based upon two governing criteria namely the involvement level of the product category and the level of parent brand equity.

The study utilized an experimental design approach. A 2 (product involvement: high vs low)×2 (parent brand equity: high vs low)×2 (attribute strategy: IB vs IPI) balanced, completely randomized factorial design was set up to test the hypotheses.

Findings suggest that IB strategy should be preferred when the product category is perceived as low involvement or when parent brand equity of the brand is low. The IPI strategy should be preferred when the parent brand equity is high. Either of strategies may be favored in case of high involvement products.

The study provides guidance to product managers in choosing between IB and IPI in devising food product development and marketing strategies.

This study is the first of its kind which attempts to compare and contrast between tangible and intangible augmentation strategies to build brand equity.

This study aims to examine the impacts of demographic variables (gender, age, income, education) and food product involvement (FPI) on food-related consumer decision-making styles (CDMS).

Original Sproles and Kendall's CSI instrument (1986) was applied in the food-product context. Data were collected using consumer phone survey. Eight separate regression analyses were conducted to test hypotheses. In each model independent variables were socio-demographic variables and FPI, while dependent variables were eight food-related CDMS.

Regression analyses indicate that each of food-related CDMS are affected by different antecedent variables. Perfectionism, high-quality consciousness was affected by gender, age, income and FPI; Brand consciousness by age, income and FPI; Novelty consciousness by FPI; Recreational, hedonistic shopping consciousness by gender, age and FPI; Price consciousness by age, education and income; Impulsiveness by age, education and income; Confusion by overchoice by education and FPI, and Brand loyalty by education, income and FPI.

The study applies modified Sproles and Kendall's CSI instrument (1986) in the food product context. The present study also provides a more definitive conclusion about the relationships between demographics, FPI and food-related CDMS. The analysis determined how demographics and FPI affect food-related CDMS.

This empirical study focusses on consumers’ attitude to low‐involvement products, bread and coffee, in a newly‐industrialized nation. Using data from 236 consumers in Singapore, the study examines the influence of country of origin (COO) relative to other product attributes in consumers’ evaluation of domestic and foreign food products. The results indicate that COO does matter when consumers evaluate low‐involvement products but, in the presence of other extrinsic cues (price and brand), the impact of COO is weak and brand becomes the determinant factor. In addition, the results suggest that a country's positive image in some product categories does not necessarily carry over to other product categories. The implications of these findings for marketing food products internationally are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to examine how food neophobia, food involvement, tour guide performance and intention of local food consumption impact each other.

A survey was performed with a sample of international tourists visiting Antalya, Turkey, and the data were used to test the proposed research model by means of structural equation modelling.

Results reflected a causal relationship among the examined constructs. Although tour guide performance had an insignificant effect on food neophobia, tourists’ food involvement negatively impacted and decreased neophobia.

This study is an exceptional contribution to the literature, as it empirically investigates the role of tour guides on tourists’ local food consumption behaviour.

This study aims to examine food tourists’ engagement in positive and negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) by considering the following questions: Do satisfied customers engage in advocacy, and do dissatisfied customers make the same effort to spread their negative experiences? Which restaurant experience attributes influence eWOM behavior? What demographic and psychographic characteristics contribute to advocacy?

Using data from an online survey of 456 consumers with restaurant experience in the tourism context, this study applied simultaneous Tobit estimation to examine the research hypotheses.

Engagement in negative eWOM because of poor experiences was stronger than engagement in positive eWOM because of positive experiences. Food taste was a critical attribute for both positive and negative eWOM. Authenticity was influential for positive eWOM only, and value was influential for negative eWOM only. Atmosphere, service and location were found to be insignificant, indicating that they are ‘indifferent’ factors for eWOM in the food tourism context. Female customers were more active in negative advocacy, while Generation Y customers were more active in positive advocacy. Food involvement was significantly related to both positive and negative eWOM.

The results of this study provide useful marketing and service insights for restaurant managers in the digitally connected world, enabling them to formulate services based on factors critical for restaurant eWOM in the tourism context.

To fill a gap in the current literature in the era of digital marketing, this study takes a comprehensive yet industry-specific perspective on eWOM engagement by examining demographic factors and the food involvement of consumers as well as restaurant experience attributes. By investigating both positive and negative eWOM, this study presents meaningful practical and theoretical implications.