This paper integrates country-of-origin and global/local branding literatures to investigate how country-and brand-specific factors influence consumer preferences. Drawing from the stereotype content model (SCM) in social psychology, it operationalizes country perceptions by means of warmth and competence judgments and juxtaposes them with consumers' perceptions of brand globalness and localness to predict brand attitudes and subsequent purchase intentions. An empirical study involving a series of well-known brands from different countries and product categories shows that (a) the SCM can effectively capture country-of-origin effects, (b) judgments of competence impact consumer preferences above and beyond the positive effects of brand globalness and localness, and (c) country stereotypes (particularly the dimension of warmth) interact with perceptions of brand globalness in determining brand attitude, whereas perceived brand localness has an independent effect. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed and directions for future research identified.

Despite the well-documented importance of consumer-brand relationships, international branding research has not yet investigated whether a brand's perceived globalness and localness influence consumers' identification with the brand. Drawing on brand relationship theory and global/local branding literature, the present research theorizes on how perceived brand globalness and localness influence consumer-brand relationship building and discusses how these influences vary for brands of domestic versus foreign origin. Two studies in mature and emerging markets, using several brands across multiple product categories, reveal that both perceived brand globalness and localness have positive effects on consumer-brand identification. These effects (1) hold in both mature and emerging market settings, (2) are independent of brand quality assessments, (3) interact in a mutually-reinforcing way, and (4) are moderated by brand origin in a substitutional manner indicating that the relational effects of brand localness (globalness) are stronger for foreign (domestic) than for domestic (foreign) brands.

Unlike the abundance of research on brand-and consumer-related determinants of global/local brand preference, little is known about whether/how the product category affects consumer choices between local and global brands. Drawing from schema theory, the authors (a) argue that consumers rely on their product category schemata to form perceptions of global vs. local brand superiority, (b) introduce a compact scale to measure these perceptions, and (c) identify their key antecedents and consequences. Two studies in developed and emergent markets empirically support the hypotheses across multiple product categories, for both real and fictitious brands.Results indicate that consumers perceive global brands as superior to local in product categories with strong functional character and extensive symbolic capacity. Moreover, brands congruent with category superiority perceptions are preferred because of their justifiability, while brands deviating from these perceptions are avoided due to their proneness to normative criticism. The findings imply that global/local brand preference is largely formed at the product category level and advocate category-specific strategies for global/local brand management.

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Purpose The dominant paradigm in international branding research treats perceived brand globalness (PBG) and localness (PBL) as attributes algebraically participating in brand assessment and disregards the perception of brands as humanlike entities actively embedded in consumers’ social environments. Challenging this view and drawing from stereotype theory, the purpose of this paper is to suggest that PBG/PBL trigger the categorization of products under the superordinate mental categories of global/local brands which carry distinct stereotypical content. Such content transfers to every individual product for which category membership is established and shapes brand responses. Design/methodology/approach One experimental study (Study1, n=134) tests the process of global/local brand stereotype formation, identification and content transfer. Subsequently, two consumer surveys test the impact of brand stereotypes on brand approach/avoidance tendencies (Study2, n=328) and consumer–brand relationships (Study3, n=273). Data were analyzed with experimental techniques and structural equation modeling. Findings The findings suggest that upon categorization under the global or local brand class, individual brands are charged with the stereotypical content of the class. Global brands are predominantly stereotyped as competent while local brands are predominantly stereotyped as warm. Localness-induced warmth has uniformly positive effects, whereas globalness-induced competence acts as a double-edged sword which can both help and harm the brand. Originality/value This research contributes by proposing a novel conceptualization of global and local brands as groups of intentional marketplace agents stereotyped along their intentions and abilities, empirically establishing the process through which individual brands are assigned stereotypical judgments and demonstrating how these judgments impact critical brand outcomes and consumer–brand relationships.