Effects of Consumer Ethnocentrism and Product Knowledge on Consumers' Utilization of Country-of-Origin Information

This article is concerned with the effects of consumer ethnocentrism and product knowledge on consumers’ utilization of country-of-origin information for their product evaluation. The data suggest that, regardless of consumers’ ethnocentrism, lowknowledge consumers’ product attitude is more strongly influenced by country-of-origin perception than high-knowledge consumers’ product attitude. The data also show that, when domestic and foreign products are given as alternatives, regardless of consumers’ knowledge, lowethnocentric consumers’ product attitude is influenced by countryof-origin perception; however, high-ethnocentric consumers’ product attitude is not influenced by country-of-origin perception. Previous studies on the role played by the country-of-origin in consumers’ evaluation of products have revealed that consumers tend to utilize extrinsic cues, such as information about the countryof-origin, as alternatives to intrinsic product attribute information when the latter is unavailable or when little useful information is yielded (Heimbach et al. 1989; Hong and Wyer 1989; Johansson 1988; Maheswaran 1994; Olson and Jacoby 1972; Szybillo and Jacoby 1974). As such, these studies have pointed out that countryof-origin information plays the role of a proxy variable for intrinsic product attribute information. When this approach is applied to product knowledge, the argument goes that low-knowledge consumers with little ability to process intrinsic product information will be more likely to utilize stereotypical information regarding the country of origin when evaluating products. In other words, these studies have identified a negative relationship between consumers’ product knowledge and their utilization of country-of-origin information (Hong and Toner 1989; Maheswaran 1994; Petty and Cacioppo 1981). On the other hand, others have suggested that high-knowledge consumers are more likely to utilize country-of-origin information when conducting their product evaluation. Thus, these scholars have identified a positive relationship between consumers’ product knowledge and their utilization of country-of-origin information (Heimbach et al. 1989; Johansson 1988; Johansson et al. 1985; Johansson and Nebenzahl 1986). In sum, previous research regarding the relationship between consumers’ product knowledge and their utilization of country-of-origin information has yielded contradictory results. Conversely, previous research on the effect of consumer ethnocentrism on consumer behavior indicates that high-ethnocentric consumers arrive at unreasonably favorable evaluations of domestic products vis-a-vis imported products (Bilkey and Nes 1982; Han and Terpstra 1988; Johansson et al. 1985; Sharma et al. 1995; Wall and Heslop 1986; White 1979). Consumer ethnocentrism derives from the more general construct of ethnocentrism, which is defined as people viewing their in-group as central, as possessing proper standards of behavior, and as offering protection against apparent threats from out-groups (Brislin 1993). However, there has not yet been any research on the effects of consumer ethnocentrism on their utilization of country-of-origin information. If we examine the role of consumer ethnocentrism from the perspective of country-of-origin information, when both domestic and foreign products are provided as alternatives, highethnocentric consumers’ evaluation of products will not necessarily be influenced by their perception of country-of-origin information. In other words, consumer ethnocentrism is likely to hinder countryof-origin information from working as a proxy variable for intrinsic product attribute information. This paper delves into the effects of consumer ethnocentrism and product knowledge on consumers’ utilization of country-oforigin information when conducting their product evaluation. First, previous studies on the effects of consumers’ product knowledge on their utilization of country-of-origin information will be analyzed in order to synthesize the conflicting results achieved by previous research. Second, this paper will look into the question of the impact of consumer ethnocentrism on their utilization of country-of-origin information. In sum, this study will attempt to analyze, both theoretically and empirically, facets that have been overlooked in previous research on country-of-origin.