The Effects of County-of-Origin, BrandImage, and Corporate Image Dimensions on Brand Evaluations and Purchase Intentions of Smart Phones of Five Brands: A Comparative Study of China and Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Purpose - In the academic literature, the researches on a comparative study on purchase behaviors of the consumers from emerging and mature markets remain limited. Therefore, this empirical study is attempted to examine the effects of country of origin (COO), brand image and corporate image on the purchase behavior of Chinese consumers (as from emerging market) and Korean consumers (as from mature market).
Research Design, data, methodology - In total, 615 valid questionnaires were collected from the main cities of China and Korea respectively,and a multiple group analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses with SPSS 16.0 and AMOS18.0.
Results - Chinese consumers are not influenced by country-of-origin effect, whereas Korean consumers are sensitive to it. Both Chinese and Korean consumers are sensitive to brand image, whereas corporate image does appear to influence Chinese consumers but not Korean consumers. The effects of country-of-origin are not more influential in less developed market (China) than more developed market (Korea).
Conclusions - According to the results of this empirical study, the country-of-origin effect does impact Korean consumers but not Chinese consumers’ purchase behavior. Therefore, multinational companies are relatively free to make the decision, if Chinese consumers are the marketing targets, when choosing manufacturing sites.

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 Gurhan-Canli, Zeynep, "When Corporate Image Affects Product Evaluations: The Moderating Role of Perceived Risk" 41 : 197-205, 2004

2 Suh, Jung-Chae, "When Brand Attitudes Affect the Customer Satisfaction-Loyalty Relation: The Moderating Role of Product Involvement" 16 (16): 145-155, 2006

3 Papadopoulos, N., "What Product and Country Images are and are not, In Product Country Images: Impact and Role in International Marketing" Haworth Press 3-38, 1993

4 O’Cass, Aron, "Toward Understanding the Young Consumer’s Brand Associations and Ethnocentrism in Lion’s Port" 19 (19): 759-775, 2002

5 Han, C. M., "The Role of Consumer Patriotism in the Choice of Domestic versus Foreign Products" 28 (28): 25-32, 1988

6 Laroche, M., "The Influence of Country Image Structure on Consumer Evaluations of Foreign Products" 22 (22): 96-115, 2005

7 Park, Kab-Joo, "The Influence of Corporate Image and Brand Image on Purchase Intention by Consumer Trust and Attitude" Kyungwon University 2009

8 Okechuku, C., "The Importance of Product Country of Origin : A Conjoint Analysis of the United States, Canada, Germany andThe Netherlands" 28 (28): 5-19, 1994

9 Wong, C. Y., "The Impact of Consumer Ethnocentrism and Country of Origin Sub-Components for High Involvement Products on Young Chinese Consumers’ Product Assessments" 455-478, 2008

10 Chiang, Chun-Fang, "The Effects of Perceived Price and Brand Image on Value and Purchase Intention: Leisure Travelers’ Attitudes toward Online Hotel Booking" 15 (15): 49-69, 2006

11 Maheswaran, D., "The Effects of Knowledge, Motivation, and Type of Message on Ad Processing and Product Judgments" 17 : 66-73, 1990

12 Kim, Maeng-Jin, "The Effects of Country-of-Origin image and Brand Image on Consumers’Purchasing Intention of Global Restaurant Brand" Sejong University 2007

13 Keller, K. L., "The Effects of Corporate Images and Branding Strategies on New Product Evaluations" 1-57, 1992

14 Han, Hsin-Tien, "Taiwanese Consumers’Perceptions of Luxury Handbags: The Country-of-Origin Effect" Lynn University 2005

15 Zhou, L., "Symbolic Value of Foreign Products in the People’s Republic of China" 11 (11): 36-58, 2003

16 RCR Wireless News, "Smart Phones to Comprise a Big Amount in Market"

17 Fombrun, C. J., "Reputation: Realizing Value from the Corporate Image" Harvard Business School Press 1996

18 Ahmed, S.A., "Moderating Effect of Nationality on Country of Origin Perceptions : English-Speaking Thailand versus French-Speaking Canada" 60 (60): 240-248, 2007

19 Moon, Junyean, "Mediation and Moderation Models of Corporate Image Effects on Consumer Brand Evaluations" 14-15, 2008

20 Roth, Martin, S., "Matching Product Category and Country Image Perceptions: A Framework for Managing Country-of-Origin Effects" 1 (1): 477-497, 1992

21 AP Wire Service, "LTE Smartphone Market Explodes in SouthKorea"

22 Hong, Sung-Tai, "Effects of Country-of-Origin and Product Attitude Information on Product Evaluation : An Information Processing Perspective" 16 : 175-187, 1989

23 Aker, Jennifer L., "Dimensions of Brand Personality" 36 : 347-356, 1997

24 Johnson, Madeline, "Defining and Measuring Company Image" 13 : 346-350, 1990

25 Maheswaran, D., "Country of Origin as a Stereotype: Effects of Consumer Expertise and Attribute Strength on Product Evaluations" 2 (2): 254-365, 1994

26 Kleppe, Ingeborg Astrid, "Country Images in Marketing Strategies: Conceptual Issues and an Empirical Asian Illustration" 10 (10): 61-74, 2001

27 Han, C. M., "Country Image : Halo or Summary Construct?" 26 (26): 222-229, 1989

28 Papadopoulos, N., "Country Equity and Country Branding : Problems and Prospects" 9 (9): 294-314, 2002

29 Roberts, P.W., "Corporate Reputation and Sustained Superior Financial Performance" 23 (23): 1077-1093, 2002

30 Kaynak, E., "Consumers’Country of Origin (COO) Perceptions of Imported Products in a Homogenous Less-Developed Country" 34 (34): 1221-1241, 2000

31 Piron, F., "Consumers’ Perceptions of the Country-of-Origin Effects on Purchasing Intentions of Conspicuous Products" 17 (17): 308-321, 2000

32 Shankarmahesh, M. N., "Consumers Ethnocentrism : An Interview Review of its Antecedents and Consequences" 23 (23): 146-172, 2006

33 Wang, C.L., "Consumer Ethnocentrism and Willingnessto Buy Domestic Products in a Developing Country Setting: Testing Moderating Effects" 11 (11): 71-84, 2004

34 Sharma, S., "Consumer Ethnocentrism : A Test of Antecedents and Moderators" 23 (23): 26-37, 1995

35 Keller, K. L., "Conceptualizing, Measuring and Managing Customer-Based Brand Equity" 57 : 7-, 1993

36 Zhang, Y., "Chinese Consumers’ Evaluation of Foreign Products: The Influence of Culture, Product Types and Product Presentation Format" 30 (30): 50-68, 1996

37 IDC, "China to Become the Largest Market for Smartphone in 2012"

38 Cobb-Walgren, C. J., "Brand Equity, Brand Preference, and Purchase Intent" 24 (24): 25-40, 1995

39 Devlin, J. F., "Antecedents of ServiceExpectations" 22 (22): 117-131, 2002

40 Hsieh, Ming-Huei, "An Investigation of Country-of-Origin Effect Using Correspondence Analysis: A Cross-National Context" 46 (46): 267-295, 2004

41 Bailey, R., "An Exploration of the Meanings of Hotel Brand Equity" 26 (26): 15-38, 2006

42 Lim, Jae-Kook, "A Study on the Brand Image of Agricultural Specialty—Focused on Regional Hanwoo Brand" Donyang University 2009

43 Amine, L.S., "A Comparison of Consumer Nationality as Determinant of COO Preferences" (Spring) : 45-53, 2002