The Interplay between Country Stereotypes and Perceived Brand Globalness/Localness as Drivers of Brand Preference

Author(s)
Georgios Halkias, Vasileios Davvetas, Adamantios Diamantopoulos
Abstract

This paper integrates country-of-origin and global/local branding literatures to investigate how country- and brand-specific factors influence consumer preferences. Drawing from the stereotype content model (SCM) in social psychology, it operationalizes country perceptions by means of warmth and competence judgments and juxtaposes them with consumers' perceptions of brand globalness and localness to predict brand attitudes and subsequent purchase intentions. An empirical study involving a series of well-known brands from different countries and product categories shows that (a) the SCM can effectively capture country-of-origin effects, (b) judgments of competence impact consumer preferences above and beyond the positive effects of brand globalness and localness, and (c) country stereotypes (particularly the dimension of warmth) interact with perceptions of brand globalness in determining brand attitude, whereas perceived brand localness has an independent effect. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed and directions for future research identified.

Organisation(s)
Department of Accounting, Innovation and Strategy
Journal
Journal of Business Research
Volume
69
Pages
3621-3628
No. of pages
8
ISSN
0148-2963
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.03.022
Publication date
03-2016
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
502052 Business administration
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Marketing
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/b205ba15-283f-4f12-991f-ae82a33df573