How packaging cues shape purchase intentions for intangible cultural heritage foods: evidence from heritage labels and storytelling.

Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) food embodies local history, traditional craftsmanship, and cultural values. However, these attributes are often difficult for consumers to evaluate directly and therefore need to be communicated through packaging information. Drawing primarily on cue utilization theory and incorporating construal level theory, this study examines how storytelling and ICH labels influence consumers' purchase intention and how purchase motivation shapes the effects of these two packaging cues. Using Caishiji dried tofu, a Chinese ICH food, as the research context, the study employed a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design in which storytelling, the presence of an ICH label, and purchase motivation were manipulated. A total of 428 valid responses were obtained. The study further examined the mediating role of consumers' cultural identity with the ICH food in the relationship between packaging cues and purchase intention. The results showed that storytelling significantly enhanced consumers' cultural identity with the ICH food and their purchase intention, whereas the ICH label did not produce a consistent independent effect. In the self-purchase context, storytelling alone generated a positive effect. In the gift-giving context, the joint presentation of storytelling and the ICH label produced a stronger positive effect. The conditional indirect-effect analysis indicated that storytelling was consistently positively associated with purchase intention through cultural identity, whereas the indirect effect of the ICH label depended on whether storytelling was present. However, purchase motivation did not significantly moderate the overall indirect effects. Because cultural identity and purchase intention were measured concurrently, the proposed mediating relationships require further validation in future research. This study demonstrates that packaging cues for ICH food do not universally produce consistent positive effects. Rather, their effectiveness depends on how the cues are presented and combined, as well as on the purchase context. These findings provide a theoretical basis for the context-sensitive design of packaging communication strategies for ICH food.