원산지이미지가 브랜드동일시와 브랜드태도에 미치는 영향

Abstract

Under the present business environment, the globalization has become the reality that can not be avoided and overseas direct investment of multinational corporations has already penetrated into our daily life. We are able to purchase various products from various countries without going abroad. Such an environment has brought fierce competition to the market. A significant phenomenon in the competition is that products imported from certain countries are popular among consumers while others are not. A possible explanation for this can be that country-of-origin image plays an important role in consumer's decisions. The main purpose of this study is to provide international marketers or advertising practitioners with a comprehensive guideline for improving country-of-origin image by using appropriate advertising strategies. For this purpose, this study was designed to analyze the way country-of-origin image affects brand identification and brand attitude. It was also attempted to see if the effects of country-of-origin image vary with product type and product knowledge. Digital camera was selected as a utilitarian product and perfume was chosen as a hedonic product in the pretest. In addition, this study used real brand names (Canon for digital camera and Chanel for perfume) and country-of-origin cues (Japan vs. China, France vs. Thailand). The structural equation modeling was conducted for analyzing the data. The results found that country-of-origin image gave a positive effect on brand identification and brand attitude. As for the moderating roles of product type and product knowledge, product type was not supported but product knowledge was partially supported. The moderating roles of product type showed no differences, whereas product knowledge produced differences between low knowledge group and high knowledge group. The low knowledge group formed brand identification and brand attitude by the external cue (country-of-origin image) by processing the product information through the central path.