Country-of-Origin Effects and Corporate Reputation in Multinational Firms: Exploratory Research in Latin America

Abstract

This paper describes an exploratory study of the relationship between a firm’s Country-of-Origin (COO) and public perceptions of multinational and domestic corporations operating in Latin America. Analyzing data from Reputation Institute’s 2012 Global RepTrakTM survey, we examined three research questions: First, does a firm’s country of origin predict public perceptions of the firm’s reputation? Second, does a firm’s county of origin predict public intent to behaviorally support the firm? Third, does a firm’s country of origin predict public perceptions of the key organizational competencies that drive reputation? Our analyzes showed that COO was related to both reputation perceptions and behavioral intent to support the firm, with companies headquartered in the United States and Northern Europe receiving significantly higher ratings than domestically based Latin American firms and companies headquartered in Southern Europe. COO was also significantly related to assessment of firm performance on a number of organizational competencies, though not all. Subsequent exploratory analyzes to identify avenues for future research suggest that COO effects may be moderated by the industry sector to which a firm belongs.