Product Involvement and the Relative Importance of Health Endorsements Andrew C. Montandon a , Andrzej Ogonowski b , and Elsamari Botha b a Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Economics, Atlanta, Georgia, United States; b University of 5 Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa ABSTRACT Product involvement is a fundamental part of the buyer decision processes, during supermarket visits, as individuals respond differ- ently to stimuli under differing involvement conditions. This study 10 aims to provide a better understanding of the role of nutritional endorsements in consumers’ food purchasing decisions, when evaluated across high and low involvement products. Although past research in this area does exist, a major limitation is that nutritional endorsements have been studied only for their direct 15 effect as a single, isolated product cue on product perception— rather than its importance relative to other product cues, such as price and product branding. This study overcomes this limitation through a conjoint analysis involving a sample of supermarket consumers. The findings suggest that a health endorsement 20 plays a smaller role in influencing consumer decision-making relative to brand or price, but it is stronger for the higher involve- ment product. These findings provide nutritional foundations and product managers with quantifiable evidence of nutritional programs’ influence in consumer decision-making, justifying 25 the relevance of such endorsements and giving nutritional foundations specific leads for adaptions in their marketing and educational efforts. KEYWORDS Conjoint analysis; nutritional endorsement; product cues; product involvement Introduction The large amounts of nutritional information shown on food products can make it difficult for consumers to make health-conscious food purchasing 30 decisions (Vyth et al., 2010). This is a concern given the increasing prevalence of dietary-related cardiovascular diseases, a group of diseases that is the leading annual cause of death worldwide (WHO, 2014). In response, international heart foundations have launched various nutritional endorsement programs (Smith, Stephen, Dombrow, & MacQuarrie, 2010). These 35 programs allow food products that meet specified nutritional criteria to use the endorser’ s logo on the product’ s food packaging, advertising, and other communications messages (Scarborough, Rayner, & Stockley, 2007). The purpose of these endorsements is then to act as a cue for consumers that a specific CONTACT Andrew C. Montandon mntand013@myuct.ac.za Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Economics, 221 Bobby Dodd Way, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA. JOURNAL OF FOOD PRODUCTS MARKETING 2016, VOL. 22, NO. 06, 1–19 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10454446.2015.1048031 © 2016 Taylor & Francis