The importance of the export country's environmental image for consumer responses to an imported environmentally friendly product

Abstract

PurposeFilling a gap in extant research regarding the measurement of an export country's environmental image and investigating its importance for consumers' evaluation of an environmentally differentiated imported product.Design/methodology/approachOnline surveys carried out in Denmark (Study 1), Germany and France (Study 2; N˜500 from each country). In Study 1, we develop an environmental country image instrument and investigate its nomological validity vis-à-vis other country image constructs and Danish consumers' evaluation of organic milk from Germany. In Study 2, we validate the instrument with consumers from Germany and France, evaluating organic milk from Denmark.FindingsConsumers differentiate between a country's environmental image and its general and production-related images. The country's environmental image is important to consumers' evaluation of an environmentally differentiated product from the country. Specifically, we find that a country's environmental image strongly influences its product-specific images and, through these, the consumer's evaluation of an organic food product from the country.Practical implicationsConsumers' use of a country's environmental image as a cue to the credibility of environmental claims gives competitive advantages to exporters from countries with a favorable environmental image, while exporters from countries with an unfavorable environmental image need measures to compensate. Companies and countries should monitor how the environmental image of their country evolves in important markets and be ready to act when facing damages to their country's environmental image.Originality/valueThis article is the first to propose a measure of environmental country image and to document that consumers use the environmental image of an exporting country to assess environmental claims on imported products.

How do controversial foreign country images affect consumers?

“…Another source of fragmentation in the country image literature results from inter‐study variation in the dimension(s) under scrutiny (Costa et al, 2016) and the level(s) of abstraction and measurement (Josiassen et al, 2013). A scheme has been proposed to organize the variety of country image measures/constructs along the ‘horizontal’ and ‘vertical’ axes of dimensions and levels, respectively (Thøgersen & Pedersen, 2021). The vertical distinction between country images at different levels of abstraction ranges from general image constructs (i.e., beliefs/images about the country‐of‐origin), through mixed product‐country images (i.e., regarding all or different products from the origin country) to more specific product images (i.e., a specific product or product category from the country‐of‐origin; Roth & Diamantopoulos, 2009; Yang et al, 2018).…”

“…Research shows that individuals may differently use country, product‐country, and category‐country country images to form their product‐related attitudes (Thøgersen et al, 2021). Overall, macro country images help explain other micro image constructs that, in turn, predict (anti‐)consumption intentions and behaviour (Thøgersen & Pedersen, 2021). Considering the above, macro‐ and micro‐country images can be expected to have a distinct bearing on consumer responses to foreign products, thus representing different pieces of the ‘country‐of‐origin effects puzzle’.…”

“…The horizontal scope of macro country images is thus broad and potentially encompasses political, economic, technological, cultural, social, natural, and environmental dimensions, among others (Lala et al, 2008; Lu et al, 2019). There is growing evidence that consumers' social and environmental country images—along with political–economic ones—can form their overall, macrocognitive evaluation of a foreign country, which affects their (anti‐)consumption decisions (Dekhili et al, 2021; García‐de‐Frutos & Ortega‐Egea, 2015; Thøgersen & Pedersen, 2021). Importantly, people may have similar, different, or even opposite—and potentially conflicting—views of a foreign country depending on the specific country image dimension under consideration.…”

“…In this study, country images are viewed as cognitive constructs reflecting consumer beliefs (positive or negative) regarding foreign countries, not only in terms of affluence or political stability, but also on social and environmental grounds. This approach responds to recent calls for a broader understanding of country images (Lu et al, 2019) to include a country's sustainability‐related social and environmental images (Dekhili et al, 2021; Thøgersen & Pedersen, 2021). Importantly, macro (country‐focused) images are clearly differentiated from micro (product‐category) cognitions―the former as antecedents and the latter as an outcome.…”

“…By addressing these questions, we contribute to ongoing debates that seek to push the boundaries of country image research (e.g., Diamantopoulos et al, 2020; Kock et al, 2019). First, our work provides important insights into the conceptualization of (macro, cognition‐based) COIs along horizontal and vertical axes (Lascu et al, 2020; Lu et al, 2019; Thøgersen & Pedersen, 2021). Horizontally, we argue for an encompassing delineation of country image in terms of (more researched) political–economic, and (less researched) social and environmental dimensions (Dekhili et al, 2021; García‐de‐Frutos & Ortega‐Egea, 2015; Lala et al, 2008), and add knowledge by considering their differential role as (macro) antecedents of consumer responses to foreign products.…”