Abstract
The aim of this paper is to expand upon previous research into the country of origin effect through the use of empirical data by formulating an analysis method which allows the measurement of the extent of country of origin effect by the proxy of K-pop musicians associated with country of origin image and to propose an alternative framework which provides an explanation as to the discrepancies between empirical data and prior research. Our analysis results reveal that the impact of country of origin associated with ‘PSY’ and ‘BTS’ on the automobile sales of ‘Hyundai Sonata’ was significant in the U.S. market. An asymmetric country of origin effect was found vis-à-vis American and Japanese brands.
Highlights
I f you are a fan of BTS, chances are high that you would prefer Hyundai Sonata to Ford Fusion or Samsung Galaxy to Apple iPhone
It is possible that other pop and classic musicians such as Abba, Olivia Newton John, Justin Bieber, Yoyoma, Lang, Lang Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Sarah Chang may have indirectly contributed to sales of products from their home country through concerts, TV appearances as well as YouTube presence
In case of PSY, it provides a positive effect on the sales share of ‘Hyundai Sonata’ with significance at a 1⁄4 10% over two periods, the second half of 2012 and the first half of 2013, when the search level of PSY reached 18.7% (2012H2) and 14.6% (2013H1) of Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift considered as a benchmark in terms of popularity measured as search index
Summary
I f you are a fan of BTS, chances are high that you would prefer Hyundai Sonata to Ford Fusion or Samsung Galaxy to Apple iPhone. Heslop et al (2008) reported that negative feelings towards the French rose in Australia after the 1996 French nuclear test and that consumers' response such as willingness to buy or pride in ownership of French products dropped According to their findings, imports from France to Australia decreased both in absolute terms and in relation to other countries, which suggested that there would be a considerable lag in recovery following the French nuclear tests (Heslop et al 2008). We will provide a generalizable analysis method to assess the extent of the CO perception effect and to test how strongly a brand is associated with its origin country regardless of brand, involvement level, product type, etc. Our finding aims to shed light on the strength of latent associations of corporate brands to CO perception, such as the asymmetric strength of association vis-a-vis US and Japanese brands, through the K-pop stars ‘PSY’ and ‘BTS’ and the temporal change in influence depending on the musicians' level of popularity as a proxy variable of CO by using automobile sales data in U.S market between 2012 and 2018
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