Impact of Country-of-Origin Dimensions on Product Quality and Design Quality Perceptions

Abstract This article examines the multidimensional constructs of the country concept and how they impact consumer evaluations of product and design qualities. Specifically, country-of-assembly, country-of-design, and parts-source country are incorporated into the research design. The results reveal that whereas country-of-assembly and country-of-parts only affect the product quality perception and country-of-design only affects the design quality perception, parts-source country moderates the design quality perception effect when the product is indicated as assembled in Mexico. This result has significant implications for manufacturers and marketers of hybrid products, particularly when outsourcing of different aspects of the production process were to be considered.

[1]  C. Osgood,et al.  The principle of congruity in the prediction of attitude change. , 1955, Psychological review.

[2]  Bernd H. Schmitt,et al.  Foreign Branding and Its Effects on Product Perceptions and Attitudes , 1994 .

[3]  D. Howard.  Understanding How American Consumers Formulate Their Attitudes About Foreign Products , 1990 .

[4]  Saeed Samiee,et al.  Customer Evaluation of Products in a Global Market , 1994 .

[5]  Sevgin Eroğlu,et al.  Effects of Individual and Product‐specific Variables on Utilising Country of Origin as a Product Quality Cue , 1989 .

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

[7]  D. Tse,et al.  Removing Negative Country Images: Effects of Decomposition, Branding, and Product Experience , 1993 .

[8]  Thomas J. Madden,et al.  Countries and their products: A cognitive structure perspective , 1993 .

[9]  Israel D. Nebenzahl,et al.  Multinational Production: Effect on Brand Value , 1986 .

[10]  K. Rajendran,et al.  Consumer Profiles and Perceptions: Country‐of‐origin Effects , 1993 .

[11]  Pola B. Gupta,et al.  Information search and efficiency of consumer choices of new cars : country‐of‐origin effects , 1995 .

[12]  Thomas J. Maronick.  An empirical investigation of consumer perceptions of “made in USA” claims , 1995 .

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

[14]  C. Min Han,et al.  Country Image: Halo or Summary Construct? , 1989 .

[15]  G. Gorn,et al.  An Experiment on the Salience of Country-of-Origin in the Era of Global Brands , 1993 .

[16]  Paul L. Sauer,et al.  An Experimental Investigation of the Processes Behind the Country of Origin Effect , 1991 .

[17]  P. Chao.  Export and Reverse Investment: Strategic Implications for Newly Industrialized Countries , 1989 .

[18]  P. Chao,et al.  Partitioning Country of Origin Effects: Consumer Evaluations of a Hybrid Product , 1993 .

[19]  Ingrid M. Martin,et al.  Measuring a multi-dimensional construct: Country image , 1993 .

[20]  Victor V. Cordell.  Effects of Consumer Preferences for Foreign Sourced Products , 1992 .

[21]  Louise A. Heslop,et al.  Impact of country-of-origin cues on consumer judgments in multi-cue situations: a covariance analysis , 1991 .