Country Image: Halo or Summary Construct?

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.

[1]  R. Bagozzi.  A Field Investigation of Causal Relations among Cognitions, Affect, Intentions, and Behavior , 1982 .

[2]  G. A. Miller.  THE PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW THE MAGICAL NUMBER SEVEN, PLUS OR MINUS TWO: SOME LIMITS ON OUR CAPACITY FOR PROCESSING INFORMATION 1 , 1956 .

[3]  Vern Terpstra,et al.  Country-of-Origin Effects for Uni-National and Bi-National Products , 1988 .

[4]  W. W. Daniel.  The Sample Survey: Theory and Practice , 1976 .

[5]  Aki. Nagashima,et al.  A Comparative “Made In” Product Image Survey among Japanese Businessmen , 1977 .

[6]  C. Shapiro.  Consumer Information, Product Quality, and Seller Reputation , 1982 .

[7]  R. Belk.  Situational Variables and Consumer Behavior , 1975 .

[8]  J. Jacoby,et al.  Information Acquisition Behavior in Brand Choice Situations , 1977 .

[9]  K. Jöreskog.  Statistical analysis of sets of congeneric tests , 1971 .

[10]  Akira Nagashima.  A Comparison of Japanese and U.S. Attitudes toward Foreign Products , 1970 .

[11]  H A Simon,et al.  How Big Is a Chunk? , 1974, Science.

[12]  W. Bilkey,et al.  Country-of-Origin Effects on Product Evaluations , 1982 .

[13]  Jerry C. Olson,et al.  Price, brand name, and product composition characteristics as determinants of perceived quality. , 1971 .

[14]  Johny K. Johansson,et al.  Image Variables in Multi-Attribute Product Evaluations: Country-of-Origin Effects , 1984 .

[15]  Kent B. Monroe,et al.  The Influence of Price Differences and Brand Familiarity on Brand Preferences , 1976 .

[16]  Joel Huber,et al.  The Impact of Inferential Beliefs on Product Evaluations , 1982 .

[17]  Peter Wright.  Consumer Choice Strategies: Simplifying Vs. Optimizing , 1975 .

[18]  Ikujiro Nonaka,et al.  Assessing the Impact of Country of Origin on Product Evaluations: A New Methodological Perspective , 1985 .