International audienceThe country-of-origin (COO) of products has been shown to affect consumer choice, especially in situations where the origin has a stereotypical association with particular products and depending on certain consumer traits (e.g., national identity, consumer ethnocentrism). However, little is known about how these phenomena are related. Two controlled experiments conducted in two different countries and product categories reveal that product ethnicity moderates the impact of national identity but not of consumer ethnocentrism. National identity is found to influence consumer preference only if the foreign product ethnicity is higher but not lower than that of comparable domestic products. Furthermore, while consumers with a low national identity are positively affected by a high product ethnicity of foreign products, this effect vanishes with increasing levels of national identity. This research has implications for academics and practitioners alike, as it examines important boundary conditions of country-of-origin effects that have been undiscovered so far
Firms pursuing expansion abroad increasingly face challenges of protectionism and discrimination against foreign products, a phenomenon widely recognized as domestic country bias. This research addresses discordant findings in previous work by introducing a new mechanism of domestic country bias that operates distinctly for national identifiers and ethnocentric consumers, connecting these two groups to regulatory focus theory. Using three experimental studies and a survey involving actual product possessions, we provide new evidence that consistently demonstrates that national identity and consumer ethnocentrism are associated with different goals, namely, an approach goal and an avoidance goal, respectively. Importantly, the results reveal that domestic country bias due to national identity can be attenuated by priming a prevention focus, while domestic country bias due to consumer ethnocentrism can be reduced by priming a promotion focus. The findings offer international marketing managers valuable insights into reducing domestic country bias and effectively segmenting international consumer markets. This research is the first to demonstrate how global companies can actively overcome domestic country bias by deploying suitable international marketing programs rather than avoiding specific segments and/or downplaying foreign origins.
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