The Effect of Extrinsic Cues on Imported Wine Evaluations: An Experimental Approach

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an experimental study conducted to assess the effect of expert reviews, price, and country of origin, on consumers' evaluations of imported wine quality and value. The study revealed a main effect of expert reviews on quality and value perceptions, and that the effect of expert review is higher than the effects of price and country of origin. The study also revealed that country of origin effect is significant on perceived quality but not on perceived value. Moreover, the study revealed that the effect of country-of-origin information is significant when price information is also present, but becomes not significant when expert review information is added.

Informational Cascades, Herding Bias, and Food Taste Evaluations

“…In the presentation of this information, the name of the CoO was offered to the subjects. Results from previous research suggest that subjects may have been inspired by this information (e.g., Aqueveque, 2008;Verlegh & Steenkamp, 1999), implying that the origin of the product may have contributed to the effects found on the dependent variable. To single out any confounding effects caused by CoO, this variable was included as a factor in study 2.…”

“…Hence, when evaluating food products they have no experience with-i.e., new products-consumers will, to a large extent, base their first assessment on extrinsic cues. Previous research on consumer evaluation of food products supports this assumed importance of extrinsic cues (e.g., Aqueveque, 2008). While there are a number of different extrinsic cues any given consumer can consider in relation to new products, previous research has found that consumers often make decisions based on informational cues derived from the decision context, often resulting in contextual biases (Dholakia, Basuroy, & Soltysinski, 2002).…”

“…However, the effects of CoO on the evaluation of food products have been both supported (e.g., Aqueveque, 2008) and not supported (e.g., Camgoz & Ertem, 2008), implying that there is mixed support for the importance of CoO in situations such as this. While a significant effect would have been useful in terms of offering the marketing manager more "buttons to push" in the promotion of new food products, the most important aspect is that the design of study 2 differentiates the effects of herding and CoO.…”

When Diseases Hit Aquaculture: An Experimental Study of Spillover Effects from Negative Publicity

“…CoO effects have been extensively studied in the marketing literature, which document significant effects in a variety of product categories, ranging from chocolate (Camgoz and Ertem 2008) and wine (Aqueveque 2008) to personal computers (Pecotich and Ward 2007). The importance of CoO tends to increase when it is either impossible or difficult for consumers to directly observe product quality.…”

Extrinsic Cues and Consumer Judgments of Food Product Introductions: The Case of Pangasius in Norway

“…According to Aqueveque (2008), extrinsic cues are, "lower-level cues that can be changed without changing the product" (p. 36), and examples of such cues in relation to food are the brand under which the product is sold, the image of the producer, and where the product has been produced. These kinds of cues are comparable to what the branding literature describes as secondary brand associations, where a brand can benefit from being associated with different positive sources like the country of origin, a specific distribution channel, celebrity endorsements, or an event (Keller, 1993).…”