The Made-In-Eu Label: An Entitativity Perspective on Country-of-Origin Effects

Abstract

Origin designations have long been recognized as relevant cue impacting consumers’ evaluations and behavior towards products or brands. Yet, one aspect that has widely been neglected is the concept of entitativity. The general understanding within origin research is that the relevant entity is the country. However, consumers may also perceive entities based on regional designations. The European Union (EU) reflects such a superordinate regional entity and countries within the EU are often treated as a group in consumers’ minds. There even exists a voluntary ‘Made-in-EU’ label, depicting the consolidated production origin. It is, however, unexplored how consumers react to such regional/superordinate entity labels compared to concrete COO labels designating specific countries. From a managerial perspective, it is important to know whether and when to promote a ‘Made-in-EU’ label instead of a concrete COO label on a brand. In three complementary experiments, the present study assesses differences in consumers’ reactions to country-specific origin designations vs. superordinate entity labels, focusing on three outcome variables: brand quality, brand affect and purchase intentions. Findings show a strong consumer preference for close entity designations and a moderating effect of consumers’ identification with the EU entity. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are considered and future research directions identified.