Nutriscore’s impact on purchase intention for products with geographical indications: a Bayesian causal mediation analysis

• A between-subjects study examined how PDO and Nutri-Score D labels affect consumers' purchase intention for hard cheese. • Bayesian causal mediation analysis revealed direct and healthiness-mediated effects through perceived healthiness. • In GI-familiar markets (Italy), the Nutriscore D label on hard cheese has a minimal impact on purchase intention. • In less GI-familiar markets (Netherlands), Nutri-Score D label effect is mediated by perceived healthiness. • The PDO label can mitigate the negative impact of the Nutriscore D label on perceived healthiness. This study investigated how (NS) and geographical indication (GI) labels interact to influence consumers’ purchase intention for hard cheese products in Italy and the Netherlands. Using a Bayesian causal mediation analysis framework, we conducted an online randomised experiment with a between-subjects design. The analysis focused on the effect of an NS grade D label on purchase intention, comparing generic cheeses to those with PDO label. Furthermore, we explored whether perceived healthiness mediates the relationship between an NS grade D label and purchase intention for these products. The results revealed that although an NS grade D label can reduce perceived healthiness, particularly in countries with low familiarity with GIs, its total effect on purchase intention is limited. In the Netherlands, PDO label mitigates the negative effect of NS grade D on perceived healthiness, demonstrating its ability to offset unfavourable nutritional signals. We identified a dual effect of an NS grade D label: a negative effect on purchase intention due to its impact on perceived healthiness and a direct positive effect likely to result from consumers appreciating the transparency it provides. This suggests that consumers can appreciate the information value of NS, even if the label conveys unfavourable nutritional information. These insights are valuable to policymakers and industry stakeholders when managing the implementation of packaging labels in various European markets.