The Impact of Brand Country-of-Origin Image on the Formation of Brand Equity in the Sports Apparel Industry

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the conducted effects of the Brand Country-of-Origin Image on The Formation of Brand Equity in the sports apparel industry. Method of this study is descriptive-correlative. The study investigated the effects among the research variables using structural equation model (SEM) with Lisrel software. The population of the study was the whole country's physical education students, alumni, which 805 subjects were selected based on the purposive sampling, using in person, and online questionnaires were collected from Iran. The results showed that the image of the country of origin has a positive relation to the brand equity dimension including brand loyalty, Perceived quality, and brand Awareness/associations, and there is a significant positive relation between brand equity dimensions and brand equity. Therefore, it is recommended to manufacturers in the apparel and sports equipment to try to promote brand's country of origin image to increase brand image in markets by using advertisements and other combined components such as personal sales and public relations.