Modernizing Tradition: How Packaging Creativity and Consumer Curiosity Shape Purchase Intention for Traditional Snacks – A Moderated Mediation Model

Producers of traditional snacks in emerging markets must modernize their packaging without eroding the authenticity that defines their products. Drawing on the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) framework and the theory of reasoned action (TRA), this study examines how packaging creativity shapes consumer attitude and purchase intention, and whether consumer curiosity conditions this process. Data were collected through an online survey of 255 Indonesian consumers who evaluated the modernized packaging of Gethuk Anyar, a traditional cassava snack from Ngawi, East Java, and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Packaging creativity was positively associated with attitude (β = 0.551) and purchase intention (β = 0.273). Attitude was the strongest predictor of purchase intention (β = 0.610) and partially mediated the creativity–intention relationship (indirect effect = 0.336). Curiosity strengthened the creativity–attitude link (β = 0.170), and the index of moderated mediation was significant (0.103, p = 0.030), indicating a stronger attitudinal pathway among more curious consumers. The model explained 26.9% of the variance in attitude and 60.2% in purchase intention. The findings suggest that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises can combine novelty with culturally relevant cues in packaging and use curiosity-evoking communication to convert visual attention into purchase intention.