Toward a Universal Account of Country-Induced Predispositions: Integrative Framework and Measurement of Country-of-Origin Images and Country Emotions

Abstract

Understanding how consumers use a product’s country-of-origin (COO) cue is fundamental to explaining their behavior in a globalized marketplace. While the study of COO is one of the most popular topics in international marketing, the ambiguity regarding its conceptualization, composite nature, operationalization, and measurement deserves further scrutiny. The authors propose an integrative framework that unites two separate areas of research on the COO cue: performance-related COO images and performance-unrelated country emotions. The authors reconcile diverse existing perspectives from both areas into the overarching country-induced predispositions model. Conceptualizations and measurement approaches for the model’s five components are developed and empirically validated across three countries and with five COOs. The model offers researchers and managers with an interest in the COO cue a flexible and operational roadmap, with scales both for in-depth analyses and parsimonious additional testing.

Not All Wrongdoers Are Equal in the Public Eye: A Moderated Mediation Model of Country Stereotypes, Condemning Emotions, and Retaliatory Intent in Corporate Crises

“…Our findings contribute in four ways to the growing but still limited stream of literature on the role of country stereotypes in the context of corporate crises. First, our study underscores the importance consumers (consciously or unconsciously) attach to a company’s nationality in crisis settings, thus complementing international marketing research in noncrisis settings (e.g., Choi et al 2016; Herz and Diamantopoulos 2017; Kock, Josiassen, and Assaf 2019). As part of the activation of company associations that occur when consumers appraise a crisis, country stereotypes of warmth lead consumers to infer the benevolence of a company, which in turn results in diminished perceptions of corporate greed.…”

“…Consumers may hold beliefs about an offending company that dictate if and how they respond toward it. This work focuses on consumers’ beliefs about a company’s country of origin (COO), a key concept in the international marketing domain (Kock, Josiassen, and Assaf 2019). We argue that the beliefs about the national identity of a company (i.e., the stereotypes evoked by a company’s COO) influence consumers’ retaliatory intent in a crisis context.…”

Narrowband Influencers and Global Icons: Universality and Media Compatibility in the Communication Patterns of Political Leaders Worldwide

“…On one hand, brands use global positioning to appeal to their consumers (Diamantopoulos et al 2019; Nijssen and Douglas 2011), and consumers develop global orientation that influences their brand perception (Guo 2013). However, on the other hand, the country of origin of the brand has still an effect on attitudes, preferences, and purchasing decisions related to the brand (Herz and Diamantopoulos 2017; Kock, Josiassen, and Assaf 2019), and cultural dimensions and country characteristics affect consumer-brand interactions (Cayla and Arnould 2008; Özsomer 2012).…”

The origin of the country-of-origin image: the role of law

“…Although country of origin may act as a cue for product quality (i.e. a cognitive mechanism), it may also have symbolic and emotional value to consumers (an affective mechanism) or offer social norms to which consumers are subject (normative mechanism) (Papadopoulos et al, 2017;Verlegh and Steenkamp, 1999;Kock et al, 2019). However, using metaanalysis, Verlegh and Steenkamp (1999) have found that perceived quality (cognitive) shows the strongest effects in the three country-of-origin mechanisms.…”