Explaining the product‐specificity of country‐of‐origin effects

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to test the applicability of product typicality in explaining the product-specificity of country of origin (COO) effects. Design/methodology/approach -To help select stimuli used in the study, two dimensions of product typicality regarding COO images were created. A total of 416 participants from a business school in Taiwan participated in this experiment and rated their perceived COO images and attitudes towards specific products from select countries. Findings -The results indicate that product typicality can help explain the discrepancies between COO images across products from a country, and across COOs of a product. Typical products received more favourable consumer attitudes and stronger COO images than atypical ones. This study also manipulated two other factors, product type and product category level. While product type had no significant impact on the effects of typicality, tests on product category level revealed enhanced effects for subordinate product categories. Originality/value -The study provides a stepping stone towards the development of a general theory of COO. By testing the effects of a category-based concept, typicality, in the context of the COO image, this study formally testifies the applicability of categorisation theories on COO effects, which may provide informative sources for the future development of COO studies. Based on the rationale of typicality, this study also tests the possible moderation effects of product types and category levels.

Influences of Country-Of-Origin on Perceived Quality & Value According to Saudi Consumers of Vehicles

“…That result for COO USA , COO Japan and COO Korea . This result about the image of particular-country-production is compatible with (Tseng &Balabanis, 2011 andZolfagharian et al, 2014).…”

“…During the previous four decades, Country-Of-Origin (COO) has grown rapidly to become one of the most widely studied issues in the global marketing (Kabadayi & Lerman, 2011;Tseng & Balabanis, 2011). Till date there is significant amount of researches on the relations between consumer behavior and product's COO (Miranda & Parkvithee, 2013) and it is the major focus of research (Seidenfuss et al, 2013).…”

“…(Magnusson et al, 2011). While certain product categories, such as cars, perfume and electronics are strongly identified with their COO (e.g., German cars, French perfume and Japanese electronics), other product categories are not (Tseng & Balabanis, 2011;Zolfagharian et al, 2014). Consumers show that COO has high priority for them compared with either the price or the packaging in their decision to purchase something (Moradi & Zarei, 2012).…”

Country of Origin Effect in a Lithuanian Market of Vitamins and Dietary Supplements

“…Despite some emerging skeptical attitudes towards the relevance of a product's country-of-origin in global markets (Usunier, 2006), the COO effect remains a significant issue in the international business and marketing research (Tseng & Balabanis, 2011;Wang et al, 2012;Samli, 2013). The necessity to cognize consumers' perceptions and attitudes towards the domestic and imported products increases both for national and global companies as both types of companies operate in highly competitive markets of local and foreign-made products (Ghazali et al, 2008;Ahmed & d'Astous, 2008).…”

“…Variety of COO effects across product categories indicates that the COO effect is not only regional-specific, but also product-specific phenomenon (Chattalas et al, 2008;Tseng & Balabanis, 2011;Drozdenko & Jensen, 2009;Insch & Florek, 2009). The findings of Drozdenko and Jensen (2009) study show that consumers are more sensitive to COO of the products that are consumed directly (like energy drinks and toothpaste) compared to the products with less physical risk (shoes, cell phones, shirts, mp3 players).…”