Eyes Wide Shut? Understanding and Managing Consumers’ Visual Processing of Country‐of‐Origin Cues

Abstract

In the context of the on‐going debate regarding the relevance of the country of origin (COO) phenomenon and drawing from cue utilization theory as well as research on visual attention, we conduct three eye‐tracking experiments that investigate (a) whether consumers naturally detect COO labels, (b) whether such detection influences subsequent behavioural intentions and (c) whether visual attention to COO labels can be externally motivated. Results consistently show that the majority of COO labels on product packages are indeed noticed by consumers. While the effects of COO on behavioural intentions are conditional on the duration of visual attention, dwell times on COO labels, on average, exceed the tipping point necessary to allow such effects. Importantly, whether and for how long COO labels are attended to can be motivated by differentially priming consumers’ competence (vs. warmth)‐based judgment goals. Implications of these findings for levering COO cues in marketing strategies are considered.

The liability of emergingness and country-of-origin effect on South African wine

“…The COO effect can be defined as the influence that stereotyping and generalisations about a country have on people's evaluations of that country's products and brands (Suh et al, 2016). Explanations for why COO impacts product evaluations and purchase behaviour have largely focussed on consumer decision-making as a cognitive process that relies on the assimilation of informational cues -both intrinsic (elements that are embedded in the product such as texture, product performance, and colour) or extrinsic (relating to elements such as price, brand reputation, or the COO) (Bloemer et al, 2009;Halkias et al, 2022). Consumers often face inherent difficulties in accessing intrinsic information before a purchase decision is made, and they subsequently rely on extrinsic cues to guide their evaluation (Halkias et al, 2022).…”

“…Our research question is whether there is a COO and LOE effect on South African wine in European markets? Studies show that the COO effect is more prominent in an environment where little intrinsic information about a product is available and that in such cases consumers may default to extrinsic cues and heuristic evidence for product quality guidance (Halkias et al, 2022;Laroche et al, 2005;Terblanche & Pentz, 2019). Wine has been argued to be such a category, as research shows that the vast majority of consumers lack intrinsic knowledge about the wine (Bruwer et al, 2017a;Veale & Quester, 2009;Veselá & Zich, 2015).…”

Reassuringly British: consumer engagement with domestic products and brands

“…However, limited COO research exists into FMCGs specifically (Melewar and Skinner, 2020a). Recent efforts attempt to further investigate the contextual and temporal specificity of such labelling practices in determining its effectiveness, particularly within the era of increased globalisation, as the label's attributes transform in the wake of external changes (Halkias et al. , 2022; Karimov and El-Murad, 2019; Insch and Cuthbert, 2018).…”

What’s Wrong with Being Global: Perception of Healthiness of Global Food Products

“…The health-related consumer behavior literature highlights that consumers pay attention to health cues in their decision-making processes (Talukdar & Lindsey, 2013). Based on cue utilization theory ( Jacoby et al, 1971), consumers' judgments of the product may be related to internal (e. g., ingredients, technology) or external (e. g., brand name, country of origin) cues (Halkias et al, 2021). When consumers face products with a lack of previous information and experience, external cues become the dominant source of the product evaluation process (Tse & Gorn, 1993).…”

“…Literature of social cognition suggests that the human brain optimizes limited mental resources by classifying surrounding information into categories (Fiske, 2000). Individuals naturally focus on relevant cues and build a predisposition toward categories, leading to product evaluations (Halkias et al, 2021). Indeed, categorization is one of the most fundamental processes, and it enables people to make quick decisions about incoming information (Gaertner et al, 1993).…”