Country image effect on product assessment: moderating role of consumer nationality

Abstract

Purpose – This study investigates whether the magnitude of the effect of country image (CoI) on quality evaluation of foreign products varies across consumers from developed vs. from developing countries Design/methodology/approach – French, Argentinean and Chilean consumers responded to an online survey. We employed a within- subjects design in order to examine associate differences in CoI with differences in quality assessment. Findings – In agreement with previous studies, we found a positive effect of CoI on quality evaluations of foreign products. However, we found a non-significant moderating effect of consumer nationality, which contrasts with Hsieh (2004), who found that CoI effects were stronger for consumers from developing markets. Originality/value – While several studies have investigated factors that would affect consumers’ preference for domestic vs. foreign products, we took the relatively under-researched topic of whether there would be differences across consumers from developed vs. developing markets in the impact of country image on the evaluation of foreign products.