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Marketing high-tech products in emerging markets : the differential impacts of country image and country-of-origin's image

Nizar Souiden, Frank Pons, Marie-Eve Mayrand

Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 5 pp. 356 - 367

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Keyword

Country Image(CI)

Country-Of-Origin’s(COO) Image

Product Image

Emerging Markets

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Keyword

High-tech Products

Purchase Intention

Consumers’ Uncertainty & Aspiration

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Country-Of-Origin’s Image(COO)

What's your favor

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Country-Of-Origin’s Image(COO)

What's your favor

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Country-Of-Origin’s Image(COO)

What's your favor

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Country-Of-Origin’s Image(COO)

What's your favor

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Country image(CI)

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Country image(CI)

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Country image(CI)

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Country image(CI)

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Country image(CI)

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Product Image

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Product Image

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Product Image

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Product Image

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Product Image

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Product Image

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Product Image

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I want play a game…

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Why have

Show-Girls,

But no

Show-Boys ?!

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Emerging Markets

•An emerging marketis a nation with social or business activity in the process of rapid growth and industrialization.

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High-tech Products

•High-tech Productsrefers to technology that is at the cutting edge: the most advanced technology available.

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Purchase Intention

•Purchase Intentionis a plan to purchase a particular good or service in the future.

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Consumers’ Uncertainty & Aspiration

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Research Purpose

• It simultaneously assesses the effects of country image and country-of-origin’s image on consumers’ uncertainty, aspiration and purchasing intention of high-tech products.

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Research Method

•Research Design

•Questionnaire and Measurement Scales

• Sample Sharacteristics

•Based on a sample of 479 Chinese consumers, structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships.

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The differential impacts of country’s image and country-of-origin’s image on consumers’ uncertainty, aspiration and purchase intention of high technology products

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Research Findings

•Results show that compared to country-of-origin, country’s image is a more effective tool in reducing consumers’ uncertainty and increasing their aspiration to purchase high technology products.

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Socio-demographic information of Chinese living in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou

City Shanghai Beijing Guangzhou

Percentage of total Chinese living

in the three cities

Gender breakdown

40.3 33.7 26

Male (%) 49.48 49.9 51.3

Female (%) 50.52 50.1 48.7

Percentage of married people 70.1 72.57 69.57

Average monthly salary (RMB) 3,512

Source: ChinaStatisticalYearbook(2008)

3,748 2,675

Source: ChinaStatisticalYearbook(2008)

3,512

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Psychometric properties of measurement scales

Construct No. of items EigenvalueCumulative

variance (%)rho AVE

Countryimage 63.72

Factor 1: CI1 3 3.65 0.85 0.65

Factor 2: CI2 3 1.57 0.76 0.52

Factor 3: CI3 2 1.16 0.74 0.61

Country-of-

origin: COO5 0.85 0.54

Product image:

PIM4 0.85 0.58

Aspiration: ASP 6 0.92 0.66

Uncertainty:

UNC2 0.87 0.77

Purchase

intention: CPI6 0.91 0.63

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Correlation matrix between independent variables

Variables CI COO PIM ASP UNC

CI 1

COO 0.360* 1

PIM 0.035 0.214* 1

ASP 0.255* 0.268* 0.302* 1

UNC 20.066* 20.147* 20.137* 20.321* 1

Note: *Significant at 0.01 level

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Summary of the structural equation modeling results

IV DV St. beta t p Results Statistics p

Hypothesis

H1 PIM UNC 0.096 1.746 0.081 Rejected

H2 UNC CPI 20.137 23.898 0 Accepted

H3 COO UNC 20.125 22.336 0.019 Accepted

H4 CI UNC 20.186 22.876 0.004 Accepted

H5 PIM ASP 0.213 4.065 0 Accepted

H6 ASP CPI 0.76 13.792 0 Accepted

H7 COO ASP 0.132 2.709 0.007 Accepted

H8 CI ASP 0.376 4.955 0 Accepted

H9 CI PIM 20.108 21.744 0.081 Rejected

H10 COO PIM 0.185 3.437 0 Accepted

H11 PIMCPI 0.119 3.329 0 Accepted

Fitindices

Chi square/d. f 2.981 ***

RMR 0.043

GFI 0.86

IFI 0.904

CFI 0.903

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Research limitations

•The major role of a country-of-origin is to influence product image while that of country’s image is to increase consumers’ aspiration to acquire its product and diminish their uncertainty and hesitation about buying the product.

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Practical Implications

•Marketers should understand that consumers in emerging countries are ambivalent when they consider the purchase of complex products.

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Practical Implications

•On the one hand, highlighting the country image can contribute in alleviating consumers’ uncertainty and increasing their aspiration to purchase sophisticated and complex products.

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Practical Implications

•On the other hand, promoting the country-of-origin’s image can prove an effective means to improve product image in emerging markets.

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Conclusion

•Most of the previous studies have focused on one of the two concepts, interchangeably used both of them, and relatively ignored their simultaneous impact on consumer behavior.

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Conclusion

•The present study has tried to address this shortfall through simultaneously studying their influences on product image and consumer purchase intention; and highlighting their differential impacts.

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Thanks for your listening

Q & A