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An empirical investigation in the food sector Joel Espejel, Carmina Fandos and Carlos Flaviań Faculty of Marketing and Business Studies, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain Abstract Purpose – 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 “Jamoń de Teruel”. This analysis aims to distinguish perceived quality in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic attributes of PDO. Design/methodology/approach – 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. Findings – 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. Practical implications – 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. Originality/value – 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. Keywords Food products, Consumers, Quality, Risk management, Trust, Customer loyalty Paper type Research paper

British Food Journal Vol. 111 No. 11, 2009 pp. 1212-1236 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0007-070X DOI 10.1108/00070700911001040

Introduction Owing to the importance of consumer’s involvement with food products, there is a growing interest both in the agro-food and academic sectors to know how a high or low The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support received from the INIA (PET2007-08-C11-11) and the Aragon Government (S-46).

level of consumer involvement may influence consumers’ behaviour. Food products have traditionally been considered as low involvement products (Beharrell and Dennison, 1995). However, more recently and due to the individuals’ increasing concern regarding health and the food crises, individuals’ involvement in foods products consumption has increased noticeably. Thus, the attribute of product quality and especially in the food market the fact that quality may be certified by a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) may play a much relevant role in the consumers’ behaviour. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (2006) define the PDO as “the name of a region, of a specific place or, in exceptional cases, of a country, which serves to designate an agricultural product or a food product. The PDO food product must achieve with the following properties: (a) original region, place or country; (b) quality or characteristics owe fundamentally or exclusively to the geographical way with their natural and human factors; and, (c) production, transformation and elaboration are realized in the geographical zone delimited” (MAPA, Council Regulation (EC) No. 510/2006). Recently, consumer behaviour analysis towards PDO food products have been published in numerous researches studies (e.g. Tendero and Bernabeu´, 2005; Platania and Privitera, 2006; Fandos and Flaviań, 2006; van Ittersum et al., 2007; Espejel et al., 2008). In these research papers it has been outlined the importance of measuring the level of perception of food quality that consumers have, as well as, levels of satisfaction, loyalty and buying intention. However, in the PDO agro-food marketing literature the consumer involvement variable has played an unrelated role, because, this variable has been unjustified forgotten. In fact, we have to notice that the concept of consumer involvement has provoked a lack of marketing literature which, in turn, has hindered the integral use of the potential from the consumer involvement in PDO food products. When conceptualizing the concept of consumer involvement, it is compared to other concepts to which it is related – the individual’s attitude, perceived importance, commitment and brand loyalty, familiarity with a product, purchase behaviour, etc. (Lastovicka and Gardner, 1978; Beharrell and Dennison, 1995; Quester and Lim, 2003). The outstanding importance of consumer involvement concept in general marketing literature has been put forward in literature on several occasions (Petty and Cacioppo, 1981; Traylor, 1981; Zaichkowsky, 1985, 1987). Warrington and Shim (2000) point out that the level of involvement with the product or brand is a quite important segmentation criterion, since it allows explaining the consumer’s differential responses to different products or brands. Furthermore, we should indicate that different levels of involvement may also explain different consumer’s responses to the same product or brand in different consumption or purchase situations. Setting off from the last line of thinking, we may raise that consumer involvement level with food products like an umbrella brand (e.g. Protected Designations of Origin) may also introduce remarkable changes in consumer’s purchase behaviour. Moreover, given the increasing importance of consumption’s symbolic side (Addis and Holbrook, 2006), In fact, it is expected that consumer involvement with a brand/PDO food product will play a relevant role in consumer behaviour. Indeed, there exist an increasing number of consumers interested in knowing the PDO food product (e.g. product’s place of origin, preparation methods or raw materials) like other elements with less relative importance which allows differentiating the product and increase the brand/PDO symbolism.

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In addition, this differential behaviour is becoming increasingly frequent in food products such as wines (Skuras and Vakrou, 2002; Dimara and Skuras, 2003, 2005), olive oil (Krytallis and Ness, 2003; Philippidis and Sanjuań, 2002, 2005) and, in general, any food product in whose production process tradition and customs of a specific geographical region play a relevant role. In addition, PDOs have grown extraordinarily; remarkably increasing their quality by means of exhaustive controls exerted by Regulatory Councils of Protected Designation of Origin (CRDOP), and their differentiation by stressing the symbolic component linked to the consumption of PDO food products. This paper focuses its attention on the analysis of consumer involvement effect on relevant variables of consumer behaviour when purchasing PDO food products. Specifically, we investigate the possible moderating effect of consumer involvement level on the influence of perceived quality on perceived risk, trust, satisfaction and loyalty. With this aim we scored the perceived quality between intrinsic attributes (e.g. colour, aroma, infiltrated fat) and extrinsic attributes (e.g. brand, price, label, place of origin). The food product and PDO studied in this paper is PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel”. This PDO stands out among other in the Spanish market due to its great accumulated experience, since it was the first PDO cured ham in Spain and the third in Europe, behind the Italian brands Parma and San Danielle. The cured ham production has reached a value of 52 per cent within Spanish market’s total commercialization, reaching a record in 2007 with 583.726 pieces sold. Currently, the main challenges of PDO lie in the consolidation of its exports and the establishment of a clearly defined international image. 2. Literature review 2.1 Consumer involvement The consumer involvement level in the purchase decision-making process has received great attention in general marketing literature both for its encouraging function (Bloch, 1981; Mittal and Lee, 1989) and its influence on consumer attitude and behaviour (Zaichkowsky, 1985; Celsi and Olson, 1988), as well as in the study of persuasion and advertising (Chandrashekaran and Grewal, 2003; Hopkins et al., 2004; Lee et al., 2005; Suh and Yi, 2006). Also, consumer involvement has shown itself as a key variable to explain some of consumers’ responses to marketing stimuli (Greenwald and Leavitt, 1984; Laczniak et al., 1989; Homer and Kahle, 1990). However, the consumer involvement concept in PDO food products has been less applied. As we were saying, in marketing literature the concept of consumer involvement has been analysed in different ways. Specifically, a global definition of the consumer involvement may be as “the degree of interest that the consumer has regarding certain product or the importance that specific kind of product has for consumers (Petty and Cacioppo, 1981; Traylor, 1981; Bloch, 1981; Antil, 1983) on the basis of the consumer’s inherent needs, values and interests (Zaichkowsky, 1987; Celsi and Olson, 1988) and is evoked through one or several consumer-related stimuli which help consumer overcome specific situations or reach certain aims” (Zaichkowsky, 1985; Beharrell and Dennison, 1995; Juhl and Poulsen, 2000). Since the classic models devised by Engel and Blackwell (1982), most part of marketing literature understands consumer involvement as a variable which allows classifying consumers into two large categories: highly involved consumer and lowly

involved consumer towards certain product or brand. More precisely, highly involved consumer will be more receptive to stimuli from advertising messages, since they will have acquired – throughout years – a greater number of personal experiences which will have increased their interest towards the product and therefore their predisposition to receive information about it will be higher. On the contrary, lowly involved consumer will not be so easily influenced by advertising stimuli of such product and the degree of personal relevance before the advertising stimuli will be trivial (Ray, 1976; Petty et al., 1981) due to their scarce interest towards the product and its purchase process. It is important to bear in mind that Zaichkowsky (1985) introduced an important nuance in the analysis of the involvement level assumed by the consumer regarding their purchase decision-making process. This author suggests a clear distinction between the consumer involvement with the product (which is referred to the interest which the consumer has with a certain kind of product) and, consumer involvement with the brand (which is referred to the interest shown in a particular brand choice). This puts forward the importance of its study throughout the different stages of the consumer’s purchase process. 2.2 Consumer involvement in food products In the agro-food sector, the importance assigned to consumer involvement when purchasing food products has been widely undertaken in marketing literature (e.g. van Trijp et al., 1993; Rozin et al., 1999; Juhl and Poulsen, 2000; Bell and Marshall, 2001; Candel, 2001; Olsen, 2001). Some of these authors point out that consumer’ attitudes towards food products in general have already been formed, giving rise to a routine purchasing behaviour based on previous experiences. In this sense, Olsen (2001) presents a theoretical model on consumer involvement based on the expected-value theory into which negative feelings, social rules and moral obligations have been incorporated. When analysing the concept of consumer involvement, different approaches have been used to measure such construct and several factors related to attitudes towards food products have also been incorporated without keeping exclusively to the consumer involvement. Thus, Juhl and Poulsen (2000) make use of a multi-item measure for food-related life-style in order to measure consumer involvement with fish in relation to its symbolic value and utility. In contrast, Candel (2001) ascertains that consumer involvement with food products was negatively related to consumer’s perceived convenience orientation. Therefore, it remains clear that there is no clear definition for consumer involvement in relation to food products or a generally accepted method to measure it. Regarding the reasons which encourage consumer involvement, Verbeke and Vackier (2004) raise that food products are characterised by a low potential to reflect their own image, low cost and low social pressure to make consumers be content with the choice of a product. The most remarkable exception is (real or perceived) risk, due to the probability of committing an error when choosing and the negative implications that such error may have on the consumer. In this line, some researchers have argued in the last years that presupposing that food products are of low involvement cannot be supported in the case of products with unfavourable image or products related to high perceived risk. That would be the case of fresh mussels (Bello et al., 2000); food products with high cost (e.g. fish) where the


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risk to fail when purchasing is also high (Juhl and Poulsen, 2000); and, PDO food products, where both the brand and symbolic side of consumption play a relevant role, so that it is foreseeable that consumers are involved to a greater extent. In addition, it may be stressed that throughout the last years, the production and consumption of chicken or beef have been negatively affected by consecutive safety crises which have taken place in Europe, which have subjected both products to clearly negative advertising. The reaction of consumers towards the afore-mentioned crises has involved changes in their attitudes, beliefs and behaviours towards such products (Verbeke et al., 2000; Verbeke and Ward, 2001; Bernue´s et al., 2003; Bredahl, 2003). Furthermore, the efforts carried out by both industry and government have had limited success. This is the case of the low impact capacity of certain information campaigns (Verbeke et al., 2002) or low interest in labelling and traceability among most consumer segments (Gellynck and Verbeke, 2001). In short, we understand that the consumer increase their interest towards the symbolic side of consumption of PDO food products, health aspects, recent food product crises, reservations motivated by the incorporation of transgenic components or the higher interest towards varied phenomena such as ecological agriculture and animal well-being. In fact, all these aspects put forward the need to analyse the consumer involvement regarding the purchase of food products.

3. Theoretical model and hypotheses In previous agro-food marketing literature has been deeply analysed the principal variables of consumer behaviour from different approaches. Specifically, there are many researches that address the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic quality attributes on perceived risk (e.g. Shimp and Bearden, 1982; Calvo, 2001), on consumer trust (e.g. Steenkamp, 1990; Grunert, 1997; Bredahl et al., 1998), on consumer satisfaction (e.g. Hansen, 2001, 2005; Sandalidou et al., 2002), and on consumer loyalty (e.g. Olsen, 2001; Krystallis and Arvanitoyannis, 2006). These causal relationships have been contrasted in traditional food products like honey (Sanzo et al., 2003a, 2003b), fish (Olsen et al., 2005), cheese (Hansen, 2005), wine (Nowak and Newton, 2006), and PDO food product such as cheese (Bonnet and Simioni, 2001; Souza Monteiro and Ventura Lucas, 2001; Bonetti, 2004; Di Monaco et al., 2005), meat (Bello and Calvo, 2000; Loureiro and McCluskey, 2000; Calvo, 2002) cured ham (Fandos and Flaviań, 2006; Espejel et al., 2007), fruits (Fotopoulos and Krystallis, 2003) and vinegar (Mattia, 2004). As it has already been analysed in previous sections, consumer involvement has received considerable attention in Psychology literature. From pioneer studies by Sherif and Hovland (1961) or Sherif et al. (1965), it has been ascertained the significant influence which involvement has on the process of information collection and purchase consumer behaviour. Various authors have raised the convenience of identifying two types of consumer involvement, enduring involvement and situational involvement (Houston and Rothschild, 1978; Bloch and Richins, 1983; Zaichkowsky, 1985; Richins and Bloch, 1991; Celsi and Olson, 1988): (1) Enduring involvement is generally referred to the relevance which a product category has for the consumer.

(2) Situational involvement is referred to the transitory involvement or specific situation which is clearly influenced by short-term changes produced in the consumer’s context. Bearing in mind such literature distinction (e.g. Celsi and Olson, 1988; Houston and Walker, 1996) the need to focus attention on the study of enduring involvement has been put forward, since it is referred to all possible purchase situations and is related to the consumer’s values. However, situational involvement may be substantially altered by the purchase context. More recently, Charters and Pettigrew (2006) have suggested the need to analyse the relation between consumer involvement and perceived quality in agro-food products such as wine. In fact, the results of this study suggest that wine consumer involvement has a substantial impact in the way in which its quality is evaluated, ascertaining that highly involved consumers are surer when it comes to evaluate wine quality in an objective manner. However, lowly involved consumers assure that they lack of experience to undertake such evaluation properly. Likewise, attention has been drawn upon the study of consumer involvement as a means to quantify consumers’ commitment regarding wine (Quester and Smart, 1996; Lockshin et al., 2001; D’Hauteville, 2003). Petty et al. (1983) analyse the moderating effect of consumer involvement when evaluating products through the use of intrinsic and extrinsic signals. Authors such as Lee (1994), Celsi and Olson (1988) and Lee and Lou (1995) have proposed to investigate consumer involvement on the basis of the role played by intrinsic attributes in quality evaluation. Thus, Lee (1994) proved that (when a product is evaluated) highly involved consumers use a step-by-step process which involves a complex analysis on the information attributes of the particular product, while lowly involved consumers simply categorize the product through its brand and undertake their evaluation on product category. Similarly, Celsi and Olson (1988) showed that the highly involved consumers carry out greater cognitive effort than those with lowly involved consumers when processing product information. Finally, Lee and Lou (1995) propose that (when evaluating a product) consumers who are more involved with the evaluation process put more trust in the product’s intrinsic attributes, which will make them perceive lower risk levels. Thus, we understand that when the highly involved consumer evaluates the product’s intrinsic quality they need to request higher cognitive effort. In fact, such higher effort will lead to higher trust and lower perceived risk. Specifically, we have to notice that the highly involved consumers will trust in their own capacity to value of the intrinsic quality attributes to a higher extent. In addition, we assume that when highly involved consumer purchasing PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel”, they have a higher effect of their own valuation of intrinsic attributes will allow them to reduce perceived risk and to increase their trust in such PDO food product. With these arguments, we propose the following hypotheses: H1. If consumer involvement increases, the influence of intrinsic perceived quality of a PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel” on consumer perceived risk will be strengthened H2. If consumer involvement increases, the influence of intrinsic perceived quality of a PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel” on consumer trust will be strengthened


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Likewise, Charters and Pettigrew (2006) examine the use of sensorial and cognitive signals of perceived quality through wine intrinsic signals to evaluate the consumer involvement. More precisely, through the attribute “taste” as stimulus, it has been examined how consumers conceptualize quality, evaluating its dimensions. The main results prove that highly involved consumer define wine quality in a more objective manner and use more cognitive dimensions of wine such as interest and complexity, being more satisfied and loyal with the product when carrying such evaluation. However, lowly involved consumer conceptualize wine in a more subjective manner and use more sensorial dimensions of wine such as taste and bouquet. We understand that when a consumer has great interest in a food product, they will value its intrinsic attributes (e.g. colour, aroma, infiltrated fat, etc.) to a higher extent, attributes which contribute higher symbolism to the process of purchase and consumption of such product. We suggest that when consumers evaluate the PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel” they will detect important intrinsic attributes that increase their level of involvement, because, they find more symbolism in their purchase and consumption. Therefore, it is reasonable to think that (in the case of highly involved consumers with the PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel”) the influence exerted by their own perception of intrinsic attributes exerts higher influence on consumer’s satisfaction and in the long term on consumer’s loyalty. Consequently, we formulate the following two hypotheses: H3. If consumer involvement increases the influence of intrinsic perceived quality of a PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel” on consumer satisfaction will be strengthened H4. If consumer involvement increases the influence of intrinsic perceived quality of a PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel” on consumer loyalty will be strengthened Likewise, highly involved consumers with a product develop (through past experiences) general knowledge and beliefs about associations between product category and their personal aims and values (Celsi and Olson, 1988). According to Celsi et al. (1992) it is important to distinguish constructs of high level of involvement and knowledge, although they are clearly correlated. Precisely, the level of involvement reflects the kind of knowledge and interest of the consumer in this kind of product. However, the level of knowledge represents the individual’s level of expertise in such product (Lee and Lou, 1995). Also, in spite of being different it is true that both concepts are usually closely related. In fact, consumers showing a high involvement level with a product usually have long experience with it. As a result of that the level of consumer involvement and knowledge with a product may motivate that effect exerted by extrinsic attributes (e.g. brand, price, label, place of origin, etc.) on the consumer’s purchase behaviour is similar, increasing trust in the product and reducing risk perception. Thus, when a food product is protected by a PDO, it is produced under strict controls throughout its whole production. All these involve certification, reflected on the symbol of PDO, a signal for consumer evaluation. We assume that among major it is the interest that consumer has in the PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel” as a symbol,

minor will be the sensation of perceived risk and higher it will be the trust deposited in the food product. For those reasons, it seems reasonable to raise that the effect of extrinsic attributes on perceived risk will be lower for those highly involved consumers with the PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel”, and, at the same time, trust in such food product will also be more intense. We may thus propose the following hypotheses: H5. If consumer involvement increases the influence of extrinsic perceived quality of a PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel” on consumer perceived risk will be strengthened H6. IIf consumer involvement increases the influence of extrinsic perceived quality of a PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel” on consumer trust will be strengthened Likewise, Quester and Smart (1996) analyse level of consumer involvement with a food product through the use of extrinsic attributes, ascertaining that there are no evidences for the reduction of the importance of price as level of involvement increases. Also, Petty et al. (1983) study the moderating effect of level of consumer involvement in order to evaluate products through the use of extrinsic signals. These authors show that the manipulation of the quality of a product has higher impact on the attitudes and feelings of satisfaction and loyalty for highly involved consumers. More recently, Hansen (2005) developed two trials of cheese and shrimp purchase in similar situations, through which he ascertained that perceived price as extrinsic signal may have a positive effect in expected quality for highly involved consumers with the product (unlike for lowly involved consumers). Likewise, it has been ascertained that in the use situations analysed, the effect of expected quality on experienced quality is higher in both cases for highly involved consumers, as well as the effect of perceived quality on consumer satisfaction and consumer loyalty (Hansen, 2001). In this research we suggest that the image attributes (e.g. place of origin, raw materials, culture and tradition in elaboration) involve a symbol of distinction on which highly involved consumers interest is based when purchasing and consuming PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel”. Such major symbolic interest will reinforce the consumer’s feelings of consumer satisfaction and consumer loyalty. As a result of this we propose the following hypotheses: H7. If consumer involvement increases the influence of extrinsic perceived quality of a PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel” on consumer satisfaction will be strengthened H8. If consumer involvement increases the influence of extrinsic perceived quality of a PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel” on consumer loyalty will be strengthened Figure 1 shows the conceptual model relating level of involvement with perceived quality, perceived risk, trust, satisfaction and loyalty for PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel”. 4. Data collection and methodology In order to test the hypotheses presented above, we conducted a data-gathering exercise involving a series of actions. First, a group dynamic (where a group with two


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Figure 1. Causal model of level of involvement

or more individuals who are connected to each other by social relationships, witch interact and influence each other), was carried out to know the opinions of a small number of consumers of PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel”, With this action, we design the measurement scales to quantify the concepts of intrinsic and extrinsic perceived quality, perceived risk, trust, satisfaction and loyalty. In order to achieve a better fit, the scales developed were revised by various external marketing specialists with expert knowledge of issues related to PDO food products. Second, data were obtained using a structured questionnaire containing closed questions. Such questionnaire was designed to gather information on quality perceptions (scored in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic features), consumer perceived risk, trust, satisfaction and loyalty with PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel”. Specifically, the consumer was asked to indicate his/her level of agreement or disagreement with a series of statements based on a seven-point Likert scale. The development of these scales was founded on the review of the most relevant agro-food marketing literature, while constructs were measured through a multi-item scale to guarantee the content validity (see Appendix, Tables AI-AVII). In addition, the questionnaire sought information on purchase frequency, variety of cured ham the consumer usually bought and other data in order to provide with a more detailed view of purchasing behaviour and socio-demographic characteristics of consumer. After the completion of such fieldwork, a screening process was performed to obtain 426 surveys. In fact, we eliminate 15 cases due to absence or errors in the information. Otherwise, overall response rate was 96.5 per cent.

The analytic process carried out to refine the measurement scales was structured in stages, as follows. First, an exploratory factor analysis was performed to test scale reliability and unidimensionality. Such analysis was carried out using Cronbach’s Alpha test, providing satisfactory levels of reliability in all cases without the need to eliminate any indicators. Specifically, the results of Cronbach Alpha test for the different dimensions forming part of the model were as follows: 0.92 for intrinsic attributes, 0.90 for extrinsic attributes, 0.87 for trust, 0.98 for satisfaction, for the four sub-dimensions of loyalty scale it was: 0.88 for cognitive; 0.83 for affective; 0.82 for conative and for action 0.89; and for the six sub-dimensions of perceived risk scale it was: 0.79 for functional; 0.77 for financial; 0.91 for social; 0.93 for physical; 0.89 for physiological and for 0.91 times. Similarly, initial analyses of unidimensionality provided satisfactory results in all cases, reflecting the existence of a single dimension in each of the measurement scales used without the need to eliminate any indicator. In particular, the variance explained by the different dimensions was: 71.1 per cent for intrinsic attributes, 53.7 per cent for extrinsic attributes, 86.8 per cent for satisfaction and 74.0 per cent for trust; while perceived risk was broken into: 78.3 per cent for functional; 53.1 per cent for financial; 83.0 per cent for social; 86.2 per cent for physical; 79.8 per cent for physiological and 83.2 per cent for times; and for loyalty was: 72.4 per cent for cognitive; 68.2 per cent for affective; 62.2 per cent for conative and 73.3 per cent for action. Second, a confirmation factor analysis was carried out. For this analysis we used EQS version 6.1 statistical software. We opted for the Maximum Robust Likelihood method of estimation, since it affords more security in samples which might not present multivariate normality. This process required developing various confirmatory models in line with the methodology proposed by Hair, Anderson and Gerbing (1988), based on the three criteria established by Jo¨reskog and So¨rbom (1993). This process resulted in the successive elimination of various indicators from the same scales used in the analysis, concretely the items eliminated in the proposed scale were: (QINT_5; QEXT_5; PRFU_1; PRFIN_1). With the purpose of confirming the existence of multiple dimensions in the scales of perceived risk and loyalty, as suggested by the specialised literature in marketing a rival models strategy was developed. It consisted of a comparison of two alternative models (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988): A first order factorial model in which dimensions were not differentiated, and a second order model (Steenkamp and van Trijp, 1991) with six dimensions for perceived risk and four for loyalty. The results showed a higher fit in the second order models, which allowed us to confirm variable multidimensionality. Third, the process of refinement for subsequent analysis of internal validity. Concretely, this analysis requires conformity with the properties of reliability, content validity and construct validity. Reliability was satisfactorily tested on the basis of this framework using various analyses, as explained above. In relation to content validity, we have to point out that the exhaustive literature review and scale refinement by experts ensured satisfactory results. Likewise, verification of construct validity required testing for convergent validity and discriminant validity in the scales making up each of the scales considered in the study. For convergent validity, we calculated the Composite Reliability Coefficient as suggested by Jo¨reskog (1971), as well as the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) coefficient for each


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of the proposed scales. In the case of Composite Reliability Coefficient, all values obtained were 0.65 or greater, exceeding the benchmarks suggested as acceptable (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988; Steenkamp and Geyskens, 2006). In the case of AVE coefficient, all values obtained were 0.5 or greater, as suggested by Fornell and Larcker (1981). Finally, discriminatory validity is also a type of construct validity, refers to the principles that the indicators for different constructs should not be so highly correlated as to lead one to conclude that they measure the same thing. We tested that the correlation between the variables in the confirmatory model were not much higher than 0.8 points (Bagozzi, 1994). Later, when the confidence intervals between each pair of dimensions were calculated, a score of “1” was obtained in each case falling outside these intervals. Consequently, all of the dimensions considered in the study measure concepts that are clearly distinct from each other. The results showed an acceptable level of discrimination. 5. Results In order to analyse the possible moderating effect of consumer involvement on the influence of quality on consumer behaviour, we take as a reference a model with several relationships deeply analysed in the marketing literature. In fact, we can find many researches that address the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic quality attributes on perceived risk (e.g. Shimp and Bearden, 1982; Calvo, 2001), on consumer trust (e.g. Steenkamp, 1990; Grunert, 1997; Bredahl et al., 1998), on consumer satisfaction (e.g. Hansen, 2001, 2005; Sandalidou et al., 2002), and on consumer loyalty (e.g. Olsen, 2001; Krystallis and Arvanitoyannis, 2006). First of all, we have to point it out that this model (see Figure 2) present acceptable fit indicators (RMSEA ¼ 0:087; IFI ¼ 0:963; CFI ¼ 0:923; GFI ¼ 0:964; BBNFI ¼ 0:921; AGFI ¼ 0:903; Normed x 2 ¼ 3:03).

Figure 2. Causal model of perceived quality

Taking this validated model as a reference, we are going to apply to it a multi-sample analysis in order to evaluate the moderating effect of consumer involvement level with the PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel”. With this aim, the sample of consumers that served to test the hypotheses was divided into two groups. This division was based on a variable that measured involvement level with the PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel”. The consumer involvement was measured through the items reflected in the Appendix (see Tables AI-AVII). This scale was adapted from marketing literature and was quantified using a seven-point multi-item Likert scale. Specifically, follow (Bentler, 1995; Jaccard and Wan, 1996; Iglesias and Va´zquez, 2001) and we take the average of this variable plus or minus half the standard deviation in order to divide the total sample, eliminating those cases which were around the average. First, multi-sample analysis generates an individual structural solution for each group. All hypotheses are accepted to a level of 0.01 except for the relationship between (see Table I): . H1 (Intrinsic quality on Perceived risk) is not accepted for two groups (t ¼ 21:275 for High-involvement; t ¼ 1:290 for Low-involvement). . H2 (Intrinsic quality on Trust) is not accepted for two groups (t ¼ 20:871 for High-involvement; t ¼ 21:630 for Low-involvement). . H8 (Extrinsic quality on Loyalty) is accepted is not accepted for the Low-involvement subjects (t ¼ 21:275).


When analysing the differences between the two groups the results suggest the existence of significant differences between both groups in relation to the moderating role of consumer involvement in the influence of intrinsic perceived quality on consumer loyalty (H4), as well as the influence of extrinsic perceived quality on consumer loyalty (H9) (see Table II). It should be pointed out that the global model also has acceptable fit indicators (RMSEA ¼ 0:042; IFI ¼ 0:992; CFI ¼ 0:990; GFI ¼ 0:971; BBNFI ¼ 0:978; AGFI ¼ 0:921; Normed x 2 ¼ 2:38). 6. Conclusions In this paper we have contrasted the moderating effect of consumer involvement level on the influence of perceived quality on consumer perceived risk, trust, satisfaction and loyalty of the PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel”. To carry out the analysis, we have clearly distinguished the effect of intrinsic and extrinsic perceived quality attributes on these consumer behavioural variables.

Causal relation QIntrinsic-Perceived risk QIntrinsic-Trust QIntrinsic-Satisfaction QIntrinsic-Loyalty QExtrinsic-Perceived risk QExtrinsic-Trust QExtrinsic-Satisfaction QExtrinsic-Loyalty

High-involvement (n ¼ 249) Estimated coefficients t-value 2 0.053 2 0.048 0.434 0.559 0.679 0.434 0.949 0.215

2 1.275 2 0.871 6.895 6.874 11.316 6.192 13.445 2.132

Low-involvement (n ¼ 68) Estimated coefficients t-value 0.126 20.119 0.857 0.135 0.523 0.394 0.493 20.102

1.290 2 1.630 6.760 0.926 3.758 2.935 3.695 2 0.916

Table I. Multi-sample analysis: structural solution for each group (standardised parameter)

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Literature review puts forward that consumers show higher level of involvement with PDO food products (i.e. with certified quality level, higher price and, therefore, whose purchase may involve higher risk). This recent interest in a PDO food product also involves higher information requirements when evaluating such food products. Also, this research has proven that consumers interested in the symbolic values attributed to PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel” will attach more importance to the hedonistic side of their consumption. In fact, for consumers highly involved consumer the intrinsic and extrinsic quality attributes reinforce the feelings of pleasure obtained through the purchase and consumption. The empirical analysis of this paper shows two questions which may have a substantial interest for manager of PDO food products. The result shows that consumer involvement multiplies the effect of both intrinsic and extrinsic perceived quality on consumers’ loyalty levels. This fact may be explained because the major level of information requirement which forces consumers to make the best decision regarding the food product of highest quality, also leads them to be more loyal. The paper results also highlight the compensation effect between perceived quality and consumer involvement level. In fact, we can suppose that higher perceived quality should motivate lower rates of perceived risk and higher quotes of trust, satisfaction and loyalty, because all these causal relationships has been tested previously. Indeed, this paper emphasise that the joint effect expected of higher perceived quality is neutralised by higher level of consumer involvement, which finally would compensate the influence of both variables. In brief, it is foreseeable that highly involved consumers also show greater interest in the purchase process. Therefore, these type of consumers are also more demanding PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel”. These higher demands would predictably be compensating the possible influence of higher perceived quality on perceived risk, trust, satisfaction and loyalty. 6.1 Managerial implications The theoretical findings of this paper may have important managerial implications. Thus, managers of PDO food products need understanding how the level of consumer involvement influences consumers’ decision-making processes. In this way, managers should take advantage of the opportunity given by the fact that highly involved consumers are more receptive to advertising stimuli. Therefore, communication campaigns to be developed should include as many personal references and

Table II. Multisample analysis constraints

Constraints

df

x 2 differences

Probability

Hypothesis

QIntrinsic-Perceived risk QIntrinsic-Trust QIntrinsic-Satisfaction QIntrinsic-Loyalty QExtrinsic-Perceived risk QExtrinsic-Trust QExtrinsic-Satisfaction QExtrinsic-Loyalty

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

1.434 0.920 1.086 11.085 0.552 0.067 0.265 9.342

0.231 0.337 0.297 0.001 0.457 0.796 0.606 0.002

H1: No H2: No H3: No H4: Yes H6: No H7: No H8: No H9: Yes

connections between messages and individuals’ personal lives as possible. Even more, the promotion of PDO products based on the brand’s quality, tradition and know-how may make individuals reach higher attention levels in an easier manner, and quite probably this is reinforcing their predisposition to the brand and finally their loyalty levels. Nowadays, the PDO managers need to promote and increasing the relevancy of the traditional PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel” with the following strategies. Firstly, fomenting the gastronomy as a cultural and tourist modal. Secondly, managers carrying out a unification strategy of symbolic values of pleasure for nature, health, environment care, traditions, culture and natural resources. All these factors are in agreement with the values that contribute the PDO food products as PDO cured ham “Jamoń de Teruel”. Similarly, consumers showing higher interest in links associated to PDO food products (such as the place of origin and raw materials used) obtain higher levels of utility in the symbolic habit of the purchase and consumption of such products. Such is the case of wine, where the knowledge of its unique characteristics (such as grape variety, wine making or aging, vintage, origin or bouquet) makes its choice and consumption a very rich situation of distinction and status for consumer. Therefore, the study of consumer involvement with this kind of products requires that special attention of managers. Alike, the wine culture is developing tourist offers joined to the gastronomy, resorts and Spas, treatments of beauty with the wine, visits guided to warehouses, etc. In this respect, PDO cured ham managers should to take advantage similar marketing strategies. They might promote strategies as the interpretation of the slaughtering to the former usage; guide visits to the producing cured ham companies (to know the process of treatment); gastronomic events with the use of cured ham as protagonist of the elaborated dishes; and cut courses of cured ham. Equally, PDO managers need to consider the consumer’s health concern, food product purchase and higher level of involvement with a particular brand. Thus, cured ham consumers diminish the perceived risk to make a mistake when choosing a PDO food product, because, they reduce the health implications which a choice mistake may entail. Therefore, managers need to be able to segment consumers according to their levels of involvement with the aim of favouring an increase of their trust and satisfaction levels with PDO food products. Likewise, cured ham managers need to consolidate the PDO in the international market with new communication strategies. First, this strategy will have to reinforce personal stimuli related to the product’s country of origin (Spain in this case) with the strength that such brand image has in the international context. Second, quality system guaranteed by the European Union will be able to segment the international market by using PDO as a differentiating factor. Finally, it is necessary to point out some limitations and future research lines. First, the geographical area where the study was carried out may have led us to obtain biased results, so that it would be convenient to compare the results obtained with other influence areas. Second, it would be very interesting to test the structural model in another kind of PDO food products. At last, it should also be pointed out that perceived quality is moderated by other variables such as level of familiarity with the food product category and willingness to pay premium price.


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Traylor, M.B. (1981), “Product involvement and brand commitment”, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 21 No. 6, pp. 51-6. Tsiros, M., Mittal, V. and Ross, W.T. (2004), “The role of attributions in customer satisfaction: a re-examination”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 476-83. van Ittersum, K., Meulenberg, M.T.G., van Trijp, H.C.M. and Candel, M.J.J.M. (2007), “Consumers’ appreciation of regional certification labels: a pan-European study”, Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 58 No. 1, pp. 1-23. van Trijp, H.C.M., Steenkamp, J-B.E.M. and Candel, M.J.J.M. (1993), Consumentenreacties op de IKB-vlees Propositie, Report for the Dutch Commodity Board for Livestock, Meat and Eggs, Department of Marketing and Market Research, Wageningen University, Wageningen. Verbeke, W. and Vackier, I. (2004), “Profile and effect of consumer involvement in fresh meat”, Meat Science, Vol. 67 No. 1, pp. 159-68. Verbeke, W. and Ward, R.W. (2001), “A fresh meat almost ideal demand system incorporating negative TV press and advertising impact”, Agricultural Economics, Vol. 25 Nos 2-3, pp. 359-74. Verbeke, W., Ward, R. and Avermaete, T. (2002), “Evaluation of publicity measures relating to the EU beef labelling system in Belgium”, Food Policy, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 339-53. Verbeke, W., Ward, R.W. and Viaene, J. (2000), “Probit analysis of fresh meat consumption in Belgium: exploring BSE and Television communication impact”, Agribusiness, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 215-34. Verdu´, A.J., Lloreńs, F.J. and Fuentes, M.M. (2004), “Measuring perceptions of quality in food products: the case of red wine”, Food Quality and Preference, Vol. 15 No. 5, pp. 453-69. Warrington, P. and Shim, S. (2000), “An empirical investigation of the relationship between product involvement and brand commitment”, Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 17 No. 9, pp. 761-82. Yeung, R.M.W. and Morris, J. (2001), “Consumer perception of food risk in chicken meat”, Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 31 No. 6, pp. 270-8. Zaichkowsky, J.L. (1985), “Measuring the involvement construct”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 341-52. Zaichkowsky, J.L. (1987), “The emotional aspect of product involvement”, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 14, pp. 32-5. Further reading Beatty, S.E. and Kahle, L.R. (1988), “Alternative hierarchies of the attitude-behavior relationship: the impact of brand perceived product quality and satisfaction, commitment and habit”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 1-10. Beerli, A. and Martıń, J.D. (1999), “Como medir la involucracioń de los individuos con el producto?”, ICE: Revista de economıá, No. 779, Informacioń Comercial Espanõla, pp. 104-15. Bloch, P.H., Sherrell, D.L. and Ridgway, N.M. (1986), “Consumer search: an extended framework”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 119-26. Clarke, K. and Belk, R. (1978), “The effects of product involvement and task definition on anticipated consumer effort”, in Hunt, H.K. (Ed.), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 5, Association for Consumer Research, Ann Arbor, MI, pp. 313-18. Delgado, E. and Munuera, J.L. (2001), “Brand trust in the context of consumer loyalty”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 35 No. 11, pp. 1238-58.

Hair, J.F. Jr., Anderson, R.E., Tatham, R.L. and Black, W.C. (1998), Multivariate Data Analysis, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Howard, J.A. and Seth, J. (1969), The Theory of Buyer Behavior, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY. Knox, S. (2003), “Empirical developments in the measurement of involvement, brand loyalty and their relationship in grocery markets”, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 271-86. Krugman, H.E. (1965), “The impact of television advertising: learning without involvement”, Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 349-56. Macinnis, D.J. and Park, C.W. (1991), “The differential role of characteristics of music on high and low involvement consumers’ processing of ads”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 161-73. Mittal, V., Kumar, P. and Tsiros, M. (1999), “Attribute-level performance, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions over time: a consumption-system approach”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 63 No. 2, pp. 88-101. Priluck, R. and Hill, B.D. (2004), “The role of contingency awareness, involvement, and need for cognition in attitude formation”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 329-44. Tsiotsou, R. (1997), “The effect of emotions on the memory of TV commercials”, Cyber Journal of Sport Marketing, Vol. 1, available at: www.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/1997/cjsm/v1n4/ tsiotsou.htm Tsiotsou, R. (1998), “Motivation for donations to athletic programs”, Cyber Journal of Sport Marketing, Vol. 2, available at: www.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/1998/cjsm/v2n2/tsiotsou22.htm Tsiotsou, R. (2004), “The role of involvement and income in predicting small and large donations to college athletics”, International Journal of Sport Marketing and Sponsorship, Vol. 6, pp. 117-23. Tsiotsou, R. (2006), “The role of perceived product quality and overall satisfaction on purchase intentions”, International Journal of Consumer Studies, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 207-17. Tsiros, M. and Mittal, V. (2000), “Regret: a model of its antecedents and consequences in consumer decision making”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 401-17.


Appendix Measurement scales included in the survey. Likert scales 1-7. Adapted from QINT_1 QINT_2 QINT_3 QINT_4 QINT_5

Has a peculiar, delicate and notmuch salted taste Has a characteristic aroma, soft, pleasant and suggestive Has a delicious aspect due to its brilliant colour when sliced Has an elongated, slender and rounded shape Has noticeable infiltrated fata

Note: a Items eliminated in the sifting process

Steenkamp and van Trijp (1996); Becker (2000); Bello and Calvo (2000); Calvo (2001); Caswell (2000); Glitsch (2000); Philippidis and Sanjuań (2002); Sule´ et al. (2002); Bernue´s et al. (2003); Bredahl (2003); Grunert et al. (2004); Verdu´ et al. (2004); Sule´ et al. (2005); Krystallis and Arvanitoyannis (2006)

Table AI. Scale for measuring intrinsic perceived quality (PDO “Jamoń de Teruel”. . .)

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Adapted from QEXT_1 QEXT_2

1234 Table AII. Scale for measuring extrinsic perceived quality (PDO “Jamoń de Teruel”. . .)

QEXT_3 QEXT_4 QEXT_5 QEXT_6 QEXT_7 QEXT_8

It allows easy recognition of the numbered band with the identification emblem of the Regulation Board It is easy to recognise the star engraved with fire and the name of Teruel on it Has been made in a prestigious place of origin Is a brand with acknowledged quality Has an appropriate pricea Offers a label with nutritional information and adequate manufacture Has an appropriate packing process Is accessible in my usual purchase place

Steenkamp and van Trijp (1996); Becker (2000); Bello and Calvo (2000); Calvo (2001); Caswell (2000); Glitsch (2000); Philippidis and Sanjuań (2002); Sule´ et al. (2002); Bernue´s et al. (2003); Bredahl (2003); Grunert et al. (2004); Verdu´ et al. (2004); Sule´ et al. (2005); Krystallis and Arvanitoyannis (2006)


Adapted from

Table AIII. Scale for measuring perceived risk (When buying PDO “Jamoń de Teruel”. . .)

Functional perceived risk PRFU_1 I distrust its qualitya PRFU_2 I distrust the curing process to be the appropriate one Financial perceived risk PRFIN_1 I think it has too a high pricea PRFIN_2 I think it is not worth spending so much money PRFIN_3 I think there are similar or better products which are cheaper Social perceived risk PRSO_1 I am afraid that my purchase may have a negative influence on what other people think about me PRSO_2 I am afraid that my choice may reduce the esteem of my relatives or friends towards me Physical perceived risk PRPHSI_1 I am afraid it may turn out to be not safe for me or my family PRPHSI_2 I am afraid it may affect my health Physiological perceived risk PRPHSO_1 I am afraid that my purchase may make me feel uncomfortable with myself PRPHSO_2 I am afraid of feeling dissatisfied or frustrated Times perceived risk PRTIME_1 I am afraid of wasting my time due to a possible negative result of the product PRTIME_2 I am afraid of having wasted too much time in its acquisition and that in the end it cannot achieve the expected results

Jacoby and Kaplan (1972); Peter and Tarpey (1975); Dholakia (1997); Stone and Gro¨nhaug (1993); Yeung and Morris (2001)


Adapted from

Table AIV. Scale for measuring trust

TRUST_1 I think that PDO Jamoń de Teruel is trustable Del Rıó et al. (2001); Sanzo et al., 2003a; TRUST_2 I put great trust in the recommendations Apaolaza et al. (2004) of my usual retailer of PDO Jamoń de Teruel TRUST_3 The quality of PDO Jamoń de Teruel is trustable

Adapted from SAT_1 SAT_2 SAT_3 SAT_4 SAT_5 SAT_6

I feel satisfied with the PDO Jamoń de Teruel I am happy with the PDO Jamoń de Teruel My expectations have been fulfilled with regard to the PDO Jamoń de Teruel In general terms, I am satisfied with the PDO Jamoń de Teruel I am satisfied with the PDO Jamoń de Teruel experience PDO Jamoń de Teruel satisfies my needs

Babin and Griffin (1988); Bloemer and De Ruyter (1988); Oliver (1997, 1999); Juhl et al. (2002); Sirdeshmukh et al. (2002); Taylor et al. (2004); Tsiros et al. (2004)

Consumer involvement on quality 1235 Table AV. Scale for measuring satisfaction

Adapted from Cognitive loyalty LOCOG_1 I prefer the PDO Jamoń de Teruel to other PDO cured hams LOCOG_2 At the moment of purchase, I always think about the PDO Jamoń de Teruel before the other cured hams LOCOG_3 When I buy a cured ham, I consider the PDO Jamoń de Teruel as my first option Affective loyalty LOAFE_1 I am interested in the PDO Jamoń de Teruel LOAFE_2 When I eat cured ham, PDO Jamoń de Teruel is exactly what I need LOAFE_3 I am very attached to the PDO Jamoń de Teruel Connative loyalty LOCON_1 I consider myself a loyal consumer of PDO Jamoń deTeruel LOCON_2 If I could not find the PDO Jamoń de Teruel in my usual shop, I would look for it in another LOCON_3 Almost always I find of the PDO Jamoń de Teruel better than the other cured hams Action loyalty LOAC_1 I would always continue to choose the PDO Jamoń de Teruel before the other cured hams LOAC_2 I intend to continue buying the PDO Jamoń de Teruel though it has a higher price LOAC_3 I usually buy PDO Jamoń de Teruel though it is not in my usual shop

Oliver (1997, 1999); Quester and Lim (2003); Macmullan and Gilmore (2003); Harris and Goode (2004); So¨derlund (2006)

Table AVI. Scale for measuring loyalty

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Adapted from INVOL_1 INVOL_2

1236

INVOL_3 INVOL_4 INVOL_5 INVOL_6

Table AVII. Scale for measuring involvement

INVOL_7

I like to eat PDO Jamoń de Teruel I believe that it does not have to be a special occasion to eat PDO Jamoń de Teruel PDO Jamoń de Teruel is very important for me The pleasure in eating PDO Jamoń de Teruel is a thing that share with my best friends Buying PDO Jamoń de Teruel is an important decision for me I choose PDO Jamoń de Teruel very carefully – I take my time to choose it I take pleasure in choosing PDO Jamoń de Teruel on every occasion

Lastovicka and Gardner (1978); Laurent and Kapferer (1985); Mittal and Lee (1988; 1989); Bloemer and Kasper (1995); Lockshin et al. (1997); Juhl and Poulsen (2000)

About the authors Joel Espejel is doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies (University of Zaragoza, Spain). His main research lines are focused on the study of market strategies in the agro-food industry in Mexico and Spain. Specifically, he is working on the analysis of the consumer perspective towards traditional food products with Protected Designations of Origin (PDO). His initial work has been presented at national and international conferences, and has been published in several journals such as British Food Journal, Journal of International Food & Agribusiness Marketing, Journal of Food Products Marketing and Managing Service Quality. Carmina Fandos is PhD Lecturer in Marketing in the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies (University of Zaragoza, Spain). Her main research lines focus on Agro-food Marketing. She is currently working on the analysis of variables such as image positioning, perceived quality and brand equity applied to the traditional agro-alimentary sector, specifically in protected designated origin products. Her work has been presented at national and international conferences, and has been published in various journals such as British Food Journal, Journal of International Food & Agribusiness Marketing, Journal of Food Products Marketing and Managing Service Quality. Carlos Flaviań is Professor of Marketing in the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies (University of Zaragoza, Spain). His research in Strategic Marketing has been published in various academic journals, such as the European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Strategic Marketing, British Food Journal, The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, Information & Management, Internet Research, Journal of Food Products Marketing and Journal of International Food and Agribusiness Marketing and several books. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Marketing Communications, International Journal of Services and Standards and Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. Carlos Flaviań is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected]

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