Country Of Origin Cues Research Articles

A closer look at geographical indicators: how food labels influence product values, authenticity and willingness to pay premium prices

PurposeThe effects of country-of-origin (COO) cues on product evaluations are well documented. However, research on the relative effects of COO compared to other geographical indicators, such as region-of-origin (ROO), on food purchases is still limited. This study investigates how geographical origin labels influence consumers' perceptions of product value and authenticity of foreign food, as well as subsequent purchase intention (PI) and willingness to pay premium prices (WTPPP). The moderating role of health consciousness on these relationships is also examined due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a between-subjects experimental design conducted with 300 middle- and high-income Chinese consumers aged between 25 and 50 years. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling.FindingsWhilst under both COO and ROO cues, all five product values positively influenced consumers' WTPPP, only functional, economic and novelty values influenced PI. The ROO cue performed significantly better than the COO cue in eliciting functional, economic and novelty value perceptions, which triggered stronger PI and willingness to pay a premium price. These relationships were mediated by product authenticity (PA) and moderated by consumers' health consciousness (HC).Practical implicationsBecause food labels provide salient product information that facilitates consumers' evaluation of products, marketers should assess which product value perceptions they wish to enhance and then choose the appropriate geographical indicators for their labelling strategies.Originality/valueThis study identifies the effects of COO and ROO cues on product values, authenticity, PI and WTPPP. It also provides valuable insights into the role of HC on consumers' purchase decisions, which also aids in understanding the impact of global crises on food purchases.

Exploring the impact of country-of-origin image and purchase intention in cross-border e-commerce

Product country-of-origin (COO) is now playing a central role in consumers’ purchase behavior. Previous studies have investigated several factors that impact COO. However, little attention has been paid to the impact of COO on consumers’ product evaluation on Chinese products, especially in the cross-border e-commerce context. Using a multi-methods design, this study first unearthed the antecedents of COO image towards Chinese products from the qualitative data in Study 1 by drawing on the legitimacy theory and then develops a contextual model of consumers’ product evaluation and purchase intention, integrating the role of a product with a different level of involvement. Using quantitative survey data from 252 foreign consumers, the study tests the research model in Study 2. The findings provide empirical evidence to support the model and highlight the importance of COO cues on foreign consumers’ purchase intention towards Chinese products. The results also enhance our understanding of consumers’ purchase decision in cross-border e-commerce.

Country of Origin Effects on Brand Image and Social Status in an Emerging Market

Research suggests that country of origin (COO) information serves as a cue from which consumers make influences about product and product attributes. The COO cue triggers a global evaluation of quality, performance or specific product attributes. Consumers inter attributes to the product based on country stereotype and experiences with products from that country. As consumer demand for products in developed countries is reaching the saturation point, companies are looking for new consumers with a strong purchasing power elsewhere. Clearly, through undertaking consumers' differences, companies can better position their product in the marketplace. Hence this research will look at COO effects with respect to price, quality, brand effect and social status to determine elite consumers buying behavior in an emerging market and will provide better understanding and insights into the emerging segments of elite consumers in India.

The Impact of Country of Origin, Trust, and Satisfaction on Online Purchase Intention in Emerging Markets: An Indian Perspective

This study investigates consumer online purchase intentions in emerging markets by focusing on the impact of country of origin (COO), trust, and satisfaction. The findings emanate from an analysis of the online survey completed by 987 Indian online shoppers. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) on SmartPLS was used for analyzing the data. The results indicate that COO plays a vital role in influencing online purchase intentions with the mediating effect of trust and satisfaction. The study finds that COO cues enhance consumer trust and satisfaction, thereby leading to purchase intention. The results indicate that online retailers operating in India, originating either from India or developed countries like the USA should use their country brand to build popularity. Furthermore, this study helps to understand the influence of COO on online purchase intentions in an emerging market like India more comprehensively.

Effects of country of origin and importers’ innovativeness in new product trials

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to seek to investigate whether and how country of origin (COO) cues – category-country image (CCI) and typicality – and importers’ domain-specific innovativeness (DSI) influence importers’ propensity to the trial new value and premium products. Moreover, it aims to understand whether and how the relationship between the COO effect and industrial purchase intentions is moderated by importers’ propensity to innovate (DSI).Design/methodology/approachInternational importers completed a quantitative online survey. Factor analysis was used to summarize the latent constructs into orthogonal scores. General linear modeling was applied to the scores to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that importers’ propensity to trial value products is directly influenced by CCI and importers’ DSI. For premium products, typicality has a positive effect on their propensity to trial. Also, CCI and DSI have positive effects on the trial of value products, and the effect is more pronounced than for premium products. Importers’ DSI positively moderates CCI in premium product trials, while it negatively moderates typicality in value products.Practical implicationsThis research provides important managerial implications for practitioners seeking to increase foreign sales, strengthening importers’ product perceived value through COO cues. Exporters should distinguish between value and premium products and, in the selection of international channel partners, they must be attentive to importers’ personal characteristics, such as their propensity to innovate. Exporters selling value products should communicate CCI more clearly and, when targeting innovative importers, opt for atypical products instead of traditional ones. For premium products, which require more complex decisions, exporters should especially underscore product typicality and, with innovative importers, emphasize positive CCI.Originality/valueBy focusing on the two critical issues of product selection and price levels, this study’s original contribution is to emphasize that, for the same product category, in industrial purchasing decisions of value versus premium products, the COO effect can be different. It also highlights the importance of investigating the COO effect by concentrating on industrial buyers’ personal characteristics, here the DSI of importers, as moderating variables.

Exploring the Impact of Country-of-Origin Image and Purchase Intention in Cross-Border E-Commerce

Product country-of-origin (COO) is now playing a central role in consumers’ purchase behavior. Previous studies have investigated several factors that impact COO. However, little attention has been paid to the impact of COO on consumers’ product evaluation on Chinese products, especially in the cross-border e-commerce context. Using a multi-methods design, this study first unearthed the antecedents of COO image towards Chinese products from the qualitative data in Study 1 by drawing on the legitimacy theory and then develops a contextual model of consumers’ product evaluation and purchase intention, integrating the role of a product with a different level of involvement. Using quantitative survey data from 252 foreign consumers, the study tests the research model in Study 2. The findings provide empirical evidence to support the model and highlight the importance of COO cues on foreign consumers’ purchase intention towards Chinese products. The results also enhance our understanding of consumers’ purchase decision in cross-border e-commerce.

Eyes Wide Shut? Understanding and Managing Consumers’ Visual Processing of Country‐of‐Origin Cues

AbstractIn the context of the on‐going debate regarding the relevance of the country of origin (COO) phenomenon and drawing from cue utilization theory as well as research on visual attention, we conduct three eye‐tracking experiments that investigate (a) whether consumers naturally detect COO labels, (b) whether such detection influences subsequent behavioural intentions and (c) whether visual attention to COO labels can be externally motivated. Results consistently show that the majority of COO labels on product packages are indeed noticed by consumers. While the effects of COO on behavioural intentions are conditional on the duration of visual attention, dwell times on COO labels, on average, exceed the tipping point necessary to allow such effects. Importantly, whether and for how long COO labels are attended to can be motivated by differentially priming consumers’ competence (vs. warmth)‐based judgment goals. Implications of these findings for levering COO cues in marketing strategies are considered.

The impact of country of origin on consumers' pricing judgments in ecommerce settings

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of country-of-origin (COO) cues and pricing perspective based on the third-party seller's name, intermediary, on consumers' purchasing decisions on e-commerce sites. A model was proposed to investigate consumers' perception toward sellers' online reputation, the mediating role of trust between the reputation of third-party sellers and attitude toward e-commerce as an intermediary, and attitude toward third-party sellers. In addition, this study also looks at the pricing threshold of consumers who are willing to buy from a third-party seller that has a negative COO cue, which is an area that has received limited attention in e-commerce studies.Design/methodology/approachThe paper opted for an experimental study using survey data gathered from general American consumers. Two studies were conducted. One hundred seventy surveys were gathered for study 1, and 171 surveys were gathered for study 2. The two studies had two product snippets which showed an Amazon product page with a list of third-party sellers. For study 2, all variables were kept the same – reviews and ratings for both products and sellers, delivery time, descriptions, e-commerce as an intermediary and brand of a bag – except for the price.FindingsThe findings showed that consumers' perceived reputation of a third-party seller has a positive impact on their attitude toward the seller and toward the e-commerce intermediary. In addition, the role of a positive COO influences attitudes and intentions. However, this influence is moderated by price when price is noticeably higher when compared to an alternative option provided by a seller from a country with a lower COO evaluation. This study suggests that the benefits of a positive COO diminish when a seller with a lower COO evaluation is able to provide a lower price for the product. In study 1, the results show that positive COO trumps negative COO. In study 2, the result shows that consumers lean toward a lower-price product and disregard their evaluation toward the COO. Furthermore, in study 2, results show that in order for the pricing to offset the negative COO attributes of a third-party seller, the price needs to be within 22–30% lower than the American seller's product pricing.Research limitations/implicationsWith the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability for the other markets (e.g. Asian consumer market). Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.Originality/valueThis study highlights the implications of COO cues such as sellers' names and how they impact consumers' willingness to purchase a product. The second study investigates consumers' willingness to purchase when the pricing for a product sold by a negative COO seller versus a positive COO seller is different in an e-commerce environment. In addition, the second study determines that the role of trust has more impact on consumers' attitude toward a third-party seller than it has on their attitude toward the e-commerce intermediary.

The effects of brand origin and country-of-manufacture on consumers' institutional perceptions and purchase decision-making

PurposeIndustry-wide crises involving consumer products place consumers at risk. Consumers rely on institutions that constrain corporate practice and control product quality to reduce risk. As institutions vary by country, country-of-origin (COO) acts as a salient cue for consumers to identify institutional quality and thus evaluate risk when making purchase decisions. However, in the era of globalisation, identification of institutional quality becomes complex as global value chains involve different countries such as brand origin (BO) and country-of-manufacture (COM). Therefore, this research investigates how BO and COM individually and jointly affect consumers' institutional perceptions and subsequent purchase decision-making in the presence of systemic risk.Design/methodology/approachThis research includes three studies (n = 764) employing surveys and choice modelling experiments with samples from China and the USA.FindingsThe results show that BO and COM relate to different institutional perceptions. BO evokes perceptions of legitimacy and the regulatory environment, while COM evokes perceptions of the normative and the regulatory environment. The combination of BO and COM determines how institutional quality is communicated and further affects consumers' legitimacy perceptions, preferences and willingness to pay a price premium.Originality/valueThis research contributes to understanding the effect of BO and COM in the context of complex value chains from an institutional perspective. It also provides implications for leveraging complex COO cues with BO and COM information to improve consumers' institutional perceptions.

Owned-by and made-in cues

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the cognitive and affective dimensions of COO and the owned-by/made-in cue combinations in first-generation immigrant markets.Design/methodology/approachThe cognitive and affective dimensions were manipulated in a scenario-based experiment administered on 261 Mexican Americans in three product categories.FindingsThe cognitive and affective dimensions each have a distinct impact. When the two dimensions combine, the effect is stronger within the specialty product category, followed by the shopping product category, and, to a lesser extent, in the convenience product category.Research limitations/implicationsThe cognitive dimension was represented by the country’s degree of political, economic and technological development, whereas the affective dimension was traced by examining immigrants who identify with the emotional and symbolic meanings associated with countries involved in the country of origin (COO) message.Practical implicationsManagers should pursue emerging COO research whose concepts and designs are congruent with today’s global consumer culture. The authors find support for the stand-alone effects of made-in and owned-by COO cues, as well as the effects of the cognitive and affective dimensions of COO. When COO messages combine both made-in and owned-by cues, the cognitive and affective dimensions may work synergistically, depending on the product category.Originality/valueThis study adds to the nascent literature that recognizes the multiplicity of consumer identities, and bridges the gulf between the conventional COO research and the increasingly multicultural nature of the marketplace.

COO in print advertising: Developed versus developing market comparisons

Country-of-origin (COO) research is criticized for its lack of practical relevance. Literature largely focuses on consumers' responses to COO, while relatively little is known about whether and when companies actively choose COO in their marketing mix. This research makes predictions about COO usage versus non-usage and the number and type of COO cues used in a developed versus developing country context. We test the hypotheses with a content analysis of ads published in three major magazines in France and India, respectively, involving 2181 print ads published over a 12-month period. The results reveal surprising differences between a developed and an emerging country in terms of relevance and usage of COO, but also between theoretical predictions from the literature and actual applications by companies. This research provides companies with guidelines for the use of COO in marketing communication and contributes to the discussion on COO relevance by taking a novel perspective.

Toward a Universal Account of Country-Induced Predispositions: Integrative Framework and Measurement of Country-of-Origin Images and Country Emotions

Understanding how consumers use a product’s country-of-origin (COO) cue is fundamental to explaining their behavior in a globalized marketplace. While the study of COO is one of the most popular topics in international marketing, the ambiguity regarding its conceptualization, composite nature, operationalization, and measurement deserves further scrutiny. The authors propose an integrative framework that unites two separate areas of research on the COO cue: performance-related COO images and performance-unrelated country emotions. The authors reconcile diverse existing perspectives from both areas into the overarching country-induced predispositions model. Conceptualizations and measurement approaches for the model’s five components are developed and empirically validated across three countries and with five COOs. The model offers researchers and managers with an interest in the COO cue a flexible and operational roadmap, with scales both for in-depth analyses and parsimonious additional testing.

Managing country-of-origin affiliations for luxury brand-building in China

The recent wave of luxury ventures in China has created an important need to understand luxury brand-building in China. A critical component of this research domain is the concept of country-of-origin (CoO). Chinese ventures use multiple country associations which makes the country one of the most suitable places to study the new phenomenon of hybrid brands. This marks a new stage in the evolution of CoO research. Findings stemming from a conceptual research and an explorative study are used to develop a conceptual model for managing CoO affiliations for hybrid brands within the context of Chinese luxury brands. Practical implications will help brand managers to understand which CoO facets make a luxury brand ‘Chinese’ and, on the other hand, how to improve brand prestige with Western CoO cues.

I use it but will Tell you that I Don't: Consumers’ Country-of-Origin Cue usage Denial

Despite extensive evidence that a brand's country-of-origin (COO) affects consumers’ brand evaluations and behavioral intentions, consumers are often reluctant to admit this influence. Challenging the proclaimed irrelevance of the COO concept, the present study assesses the phenomenon of COO cue usage denial, an unconscious defense mechanism that consumers apply to maintain an acceptable self-image. Drawing on self-affirmation theory and based on two experimental studies (combined N = 462), the authors demonstrate that a substantial proportion of consumers are influenced by the COO cue when assessing brands, despite claims to the contrary. Such consumers not only differ from consumers who do not know a brand's COO but also modify their brand assessments and behavioral intentions when exposed to a COO change. This study also develops a consumer typology based on both the stated (self-reported) and actual influence of a brand's COO, thus highlighting the importance of segmenting consumers according to their susceptibility to COO influences. The authors discuss several theoretical and managerial implications and identify directions for further research.

Weakening the Effect of Unfavorable Country of Origin: A Process- and Parameter-Associated Theoretical Framework

ABSTRACTThe consequence of strategic decisions of Western brands to source their products from offshore countries, largely from the Far East, has added a lot of unfavorable origin countries to their products' labels. Thus, scholars and marketing practitioners are becoming aware of the negative downstream consequences of unfavorable countries of origin in consumers' product evaluation. This research work suggests that, depending on the parameters (cues) that consumers consider along with the country of origin cue, their product evaluation can follow either cognitive, affective, or normative processing. This research study offers a unique framework associated with process-specific parameters that are manifested in weakening the effect of unfavorable country of origin in previous research.

The central role of the reputation of country-of-origin firms in developing markets

Purpose This study aims to test the central role of the perceived reputation of country-of-origin (COO) firms between cultural and socio-psychological variables and management and economic variables that help to explain the multi-faceted phenomenon of COO on a developing market. It also tests the moderator role of ethnocentrism, which is the objective of recommending different segment marketing strategies for international firms. Design/methodology/approach The study opted for the structure equation modelling methodology to analyze data collected from 274 Mexican car owners who evaluate Korean automobiles. Findings The results show that the COO reputation of firms from a developing market has a mediating role on the relationship between cultural openness and animosity and trust, risk and purchase intention, but the consequents of the perceived reputation of COO vary depending on the level of consumers’ ethnocentrism. Research limitations/implications Firms seeking to internationalize need to find out how to overcome the hurdle of target market animosity, to increase the cultural openness and to promote trust and purchases in international markets; at the same time, they reduce the perception of risk. In this sense, it might help to increase the perceived reputation of COO firms and to use different marketing strategies according to the target market. Originality/value This study analyzes reputation of firms associated to a COO as a signal that can help to solve purchase decisions in the relationship between consumers and firms from developing markets and also corroborates its role as a mediator factor. In addition, this study empirically tests how animosity and cultural openness influence perceived reputation of COO firms, relationships that has scarcely been studied in literature. This study has also found that less and more ethnocentric consumers have differences in how the COO cues influence on their evaluations and behaviour. Finally, as insufficient consumer research has been conducted into emerging and developing markets, this study focuses on consumers from a developing country and regards automobiles from an emerging country.

The Role of Country of Origin in Celebrity Endorsements: Integrating Effects of Brand Familiarity

ABSTRACTWith the advent of globalization and open economies in the developing nations, the consumers in the same are experiencing entry of more and more foreign products. The traditional practice of having country of origin (COO) cues to influence consumer attitudes is being juxtaposed with COO cues of celebrity endorsers to influence consumers. In that context, the present study investigates whether (a) a global celebrity would be more applicable for a brand regardless of its COO (local or global); (b) a global celebrity would have a more favorable impact on the consumer attitudes for a third country (TC) brand; and (c) brand familiarity would moderate the effects of celebrity endorsements on consumer attitudes. Based on a detailed literature review, four hypotheses were developed and tested through two experimental designs using nonstudent participants. The independent variables used in study were celebrity endorser COO and brand COO. Major findings indicate a celebrity–brand COO match to create favorable impact on consumer attitudes. Findings also supported the effectiveness of a global celebrity for a brand that does not share the same COO. Brand familiarity was found to moderate the effect of the endorser on consumer attitudes. The study has implications for academia and practitioners.

Investigating Quality Perceptions of International Services by Chinese Consumers

Consumers are known to use the country of origin (COO) of a product to infer the quality of products. Products of technologically advanced countries such as the United States and Germany are known to enjoy positive country-of-origin effects. Conversely, products made in the developing countries typically suffer from negative COO effect. While this influence of COO is widely recognized for products, the same cannot be said about services. Only a handful of studies have empirically investigated the relationship between COO and perceived service quality. Additionally, most of these studies in this research paradigm are undertaken in developed markets; hence, their findings cannot be extrapolated to the newly industrialized countries (NICs) that offer tremendous market potential for global services. It has, therefore, become imperative for multinational companies to understand if and how consumers in the major NICs use COO and other cues to infer service quality. This insight is critical in developing effective pricing and promotion strategies for these markets. Using data collected from consumers in Beijing in the People's Republic of China, we demonstrate significant COO effect on two service categories: hotels and restaurants. We also highlight how these research findings will help managerial decisions about pricing and promotion. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effects of “owned by” versus “made in” for willingness to buy Australian brands

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of economic nationalism and consumer ethnocentrism in the form of country of origin (COO) cues specifically “Made in […]” and “Owned by […]” on the product judgement of bi-national wine brands (brands with multiple country affiliations). Further, the role of consumer product knowledge is examined as a moderator of these xenophobia attitudes. Design/methodology/approach – A self-administered questionnaire was designed using established scales. A convenience sample was drawn from participants attending a major wine trade exhibition in Western Australia and university students. A variety of statistical techniques were used to analyse the data. Findings – High levels of economic nationalism and anti-foreign sentiment was so strong that respondents did not want products that had any association with a foreign country, regardless of whether the products are directly or indirectly related to a foreign origin. This suggests that Australian consumers are not any more receptive to bi-national brands; as such domestic affiliations have not diluted the economic nationalistic sentiment. Further, results confirm that Australian consumers use COO cues as part of wine evaluations. Consumers with low product knowledge are likely to rely on extrinsic country cues to reinforce their brand evaluation, whereas consumers who are more knowledgeable are found to base evaluations on intrinsic attributes rather than extrinsic cues. Research limitations/implications – Only respondents from Perth, Western Australia were chosen, thus limiting the representativeness of the sample. Other cultural contexts and product categories based on a larger sample size should be investigated in the future. Practical implications – This research provides useful consumer insights and new market entry implications in terms of advertising and branding strategies for international wine manufacturers and distributors who wish to expand globally. In addition, there are managerial implications for domestic market where local retailers, merchandisers, importers can avoid importing products originating from offending countries and take on opportunity to exploit and promote “buy domestic campaigns”. Originality/value – Conceptually, this study extends the existing COO literature by introducing bi-national brands into the model; expanding on country of ownership appeals in evaluating bi-national brands; and identifying the correlation between the economic nationalism and consumer ethnocentrism constructs. Further, this research can significantly help wine marketers to develop more effective positioning strategies. It will also help in the development of pricing and promotional decisions.

The Role of Consumer Knowledge Dimensions on Country of Origin Effects: An Enquiry of Fast-consuming Product in India

Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to extend the arguments of Phau and Suntornnond’s (2006) paper which has used Schaefer’s (1997) paper in investigating the different dimensions of consumer knowledge and its affect on country of origin (COO) cues for low involvement product purchases. The arguments of Melnyk et al. (2012) and Chernev (2004), which state that when a product is utilitarian, consumers attach greater weight to individual product attributes and less weight to COO cues was also tested. Design: The sample consists of consumers (Indian) who are aged 18 and above who may or may not be alcoholic drinkers. The sample size is 300. Findings: The hypothesis (H1) which states that, when only brand name and COO are available as information cues, consumers rely more on COO if the brand name is unfamiliar than if it is familiar (will have low correlation), is partially accepted (only for German brand) with mixed results for other brands. The results were similar to Schaefer’s (1997) and Phau and Suntornnond’s (2006). The explanation is as follows: Sometimes, consumers who are familiar with a brand are more willing to allow COO cues in their evaluation process as per the contention of Johansson (1989); and thus leading to strong correlations which goes against the hypothesis of Baker et al. (2002); Punj and Staelin (1983), leading to a partial acceptance. As per H2, for consumers who have experienced the brand, the COO cues are less important and hence the correlation between COO cue and experience will be lower. This is true only for the brand from Denmark. In a situation that an individual has tried a specific brand (experienced the brand Carlsberg) originating from Denmark and built a relationship with the brand, the consumer tends to reach product judgement quickly without much attempts of external search like the COO cues. In the case of German brand Becks, the experienced consumers are having higher correlation to COO cues, because of the preference towards Made in Germany products and that Made in Germany cue influencing the experienced consumers who would find it a matter of prestige to associate with the brand. For the Indian Brand Kingfisher, the immense popularity of Kingfisher brand arising due to the active promotions of the brand for many years has made the experienced customers rate it very high over COO brand India. Also it is seen that the consumers without experience of the Kingfisher brand rate it very high to brand India due to its better image thereby manipulating the relationship with COO cues. The overall results were similar to Phau and Suntornnond (2006) with mixed outcomes. As per H3 for unfamiliar brands, consumers with high product-country knowledge (high Knowledge) will rely on COO cue thus leading to strong correlations than for low knowledge consumers. The hypothesis is rejected for all the three brands. When brand itself is unfamiliar it is difficult for consumers to internalize the quality of the product. This may confuse the consumers, affecting their ability to judge an unknown brand based on quality, value and acceptability in spite of consumer’s knowledge about the product brand COO. The consumers may not use COO cue (Blackwell et al., 2001). The results were mixed and similar to Phau and Suntornnond (2006), when considering the arguments for familiar brands in the given context. Originality/value: This study helps in understanding the emerging country (Indian) perspective for the relationship between consumer knowledge dimensions and its impact on COO cues, for fast consuming products thereby contributing to external setting validity.