Country Image: Halo or Summary Construct?

Abstract

The author examines the role of country image in consumer evaluations of television sets and automobiles. Specifically, two alternative causal models are developed and tested: (1) the halo model hypothesizing that country image serves as a halo in product evaluation and (2) the summary construct model hypothesizing that country image functions as a summary construct. The test results indicate that when consumers are not familiar with a country's products, country image may serve as a halo from which consumers infer a brand's product attributes and which affects their attitude toward the brand indirectly through product attribute rating. In contrast, as consumers become familiar with a country's products, country image may become a construct that summarizes consumers’ beliefs about product attributes and directly affects their attitude toward the brand.

Home Country Image, Country Brand Equity and Consumers’ Product Preferences: An Empirical Study

“…Based on Baron and Kenny's (1986) conditions of testing the role of a mediating variable, in the absence of the mediator, a direct relationship between consumers' image of the home country and their relative product preferences has to exist. This is in line with extant COO research where a direct influence of COI on product preferences and purchase intentions has been reported (e.g., Yaprak/ Parameswaran 1986, Han 1989, Knight/Calantone 2000, Parameswaran/Pisharodi 2002, Ittersum/Candel/Meulenberg 2003, Laroche et al 2005. Hence, we can assume that, in the absence of the CBE construct, home COI directly affects consumers' relative product preferences.…”

“…Moreover, most of these scales have been criticized for two reasons: First, from a conceptual perspective, many extant scales (e.g., Nagashima 1970, Johansson/Nebenzahl 1986, Han 1989, Roth/ Romeo 1992 confound the image of a country with the image of products from that country (Martin/Eroglu 1993, Papadopoulos/Heslop 2003. Second, many scales have not been tested for their psychometric properties (e.g., Wang/Lamb 1983, Papadopoulos/Heslop/ Beracs 1990, Ger 1991, thus challenging the methodological soundness of these scales.…”

“…However, previous research has shown that the strength of the COO effect might vary depending on the product category (e.g., Roth/ Romeo 1992, Ittersum/Candel/Meulenberg 2003, Pappu/Quester/Cooksey 2007, the country employed (i.e., whether the country of reference is a developed or a developing country, see Usunier 2006), and different moderating conditions (e.g., Han 1989, Knight/ Calantone 2000, Laroche et al 2005. It would therefore be particularly enlightening for future research to replicate our study using different product categories and moderating conditions (e.g., consumer involvement, purchase, and consumption experience, etc.)…”

Der Herkunftslandeffekt: Eine kritische Würdigung des State of the Art

“…Das Herkunftsland bündelt dabei im Sinne eines SummaryKonstrukts mehrere Produktmerkmale und beeinflusst infolgedessen direkt die Gesamtbeurteilung (Johansson 1989). Allerdings tritt diese Dominanz des Attributs Herkunftsland nur äußerst selten auf: etwa dann, wenn der Konsument mit dem Produkt vertraut ist und fundiertes Wissen über dessen Eigenschaften besitzt (Han 1989). Fehlt es dem Betreffenden an dem für die Kaufentscheidung notwendigen Wissen oder kann bzw.…”

“…Bei diesem Ausstrahlungseffekt, auch als Irradiation bezeichnet, wirkt das Herkunftsland somit indirekt auf die Urteilsbildung. Während Han (1989) noch davon ausging, dass das Auftreten der Beurteilungsprozesse Attributdominanz und Irradiation durch die Vertrautheit mit der Produktkategorie moderiert wird, vermuten Forscher mittlerweile ein simultanes und von der Vertrautheit unabhängiges Wirken beider Prozesse (Knight und Calantone 2000;Laroche et al 2005).…”