Personifying Country of Origin Research

Abstract * The purpose of this study was to develop a multidimensional summated rating scale for the personification of country image as products source for use in cross-country COO studies. * Scale items were derived from respondent attitudes towards people who buy products from selected countries. Key Results * The final 27-item scale reveals social and self-image related traits of people who buy products of a particular origin. The scale was tested for reliability and validity in five countries, Canada, France, Israel, Mexico and the United States. Peterson and Jolibert (1994) identified about 187 articles published in the academic literature on the subject of country-of-origin (COO). However, Nicholas Papadopoulos (1) estimates that the number is closer to 300. The large number of articles published and presented at conferences makes for a substantial and growing literature. COO acts as an informational cue influencing product evaluations. Influence has been found for products in general (Nagashima 1977, Wall/Heslop 1986), classes of products (Nagashima 1970, Wang 1978), specific types of products (Gaedeke 1973, Heslop/Liefeld/Wall 1987, Han/Terpstra 1988), consumer products (Schooler 1965, Lillis/Naranya 1974, Bannister/Saunders 1978, Papadopoulos/Heslop/Bamossy 1989) and for industrial products (White 1979, Chasin/Jaffe 1979, 1987, Cattin/Jolibert/Lohnes 1982). Most of the studies reported above have inferred COO effects on product attributes as a summary construct (Johansson/Douglas/Nonaka 1985, Han 1989, Papadopoulos et al 1989) modified by knowledge (Johansson et al. 1985, Heimbach et al. 1989), purchase involvement (Hugstad/Durr 1986), purchase location, nationality (Papadopoulos et al 1987) and patriotism of the buyer (Daser/Meric 1987, Hester/Yuen 1987, Hun 1988). Schooler and Sunoo (1969) were the first to postulate that COO was composed of more than one dimension; cognitive (perceived characteristics of the country) and affective (liking or disliking the country). Since then a number of researchers (White 1979, Cattin/Jolibert/Lohnes 1982, Jaffe/Nebenzahl 1984, Papadopoulos et al. 1989, Samiee 1994) have identified various dimensions of the COO construct. Given the findings of multi-dimensionality, it is important to surface and measure all underlying dimensions. The purpose of this paper is to identify emotive dimensions that impact COO and develop rating scales for their measurement. Roth and Romeo (1992) classified and summarized eight studies of country image that used scaled items either grouped by mean scores or factor analytic techniques. From these studies, four common dimensions were found: Innovativeness, design, prestige and workmanship. All of these dimensions consist of production or marketing attributes and are derived from cognitive perceptions of the country and its products. The orientation on product attributes of most COO studies may be a result of a normative approach by researchers and the widespread use of borrowed scales (see Table 1) originally stemming from Nagashima's (1970) list and modified for use by subsequent researchers. Moreover, both univariate and multi-cue studies of COO have focused almost exclusively on product perceptions, using scales that described the physical characteristics of products (e.g., workmanship, durability, performance and technology) or countries (e.g., level of development, political environment). Papadopoulos et al. (1989, 1990) argue, on the other hand, that the country image construct is influenced not only by cognitive beliefs about the technical aspects of products, but also by consumers' image (e.g., liking and trustworthiness) of the people who produce them. Klein, Ettenson, and Morris (1998) have shown that animosity toward a foreign nation will affect negatively the purchase of products by that country independently of judgments of product quality. Reviewing the implicit domain of COO and the composition of rating scales in the studies summarized in Table 1, it is evident that product attributes dominate. …