The country-of-origin lie: impact of foreign branding on customers’ willingness to buy and willingness to pay when the product’s actual origin is disclosed

If you think about the last television commercial for an Italian pasta brand you have seen, are you sure it is really Italian? In many cases, especially in the food sector, neither the company nor the product originate from the advertised country, meaning that the company is pursuing a foreign branding strategy and is trying to benefit from positive stereotypes customers have about the specific foreign country. By collecting both quantitative and qualitative data through a point-of-sale intercept survey, this article assesses the impact of alleged origins on customers’ willingness to buy (WTB) and willingness to pay (WTP) if the actual origin is disclosed. The sample consisted of 200 German customers who were asked to answer questions related to one of two hedonic products they had just bought. It is empirically shown that foreign branding has a positive impact on the brand’s performance. However, as soon as customers find out that they were misled with regard to the origin of the product, both their WTB and their WTP decrease. This study contributes to the knowledge on the role of products’ origins on customers’ WTB and WTP. In contrast to the vast majority of the studies in this field, the communicated origin of the product is based on a foreign branding strategy and not on the product’s actual origin. Consequently, it was possible to manipulate within-subject variables by disclosing the actual origin of the product. The results of our study suggest that foreign branding may be a successful strategy for companies to increase their customers’ WTB and WTP. At the same time, our results raise concerns about the suitability of foreign branding as a long-term marketing strategy, unless a company can successfully maintain its foreign image. Future research opportunities include the choice of consumers with a different cultural background, of other hedonic products or of utilitarian products.     

感知质量和感知风险对自有品牌购买意向的影响

在中国,品牌名称和价格能够影响消费者对于自有品牌的感知质量和感知风险,进而影响其购买意向,其中品牌名称的影响要大于价格的影响。零售商在市场策略上,应该更加注重品牌建设,以提高消费者的购买欲望,而不是单纯依靠低价竞争。但是,价格和品牌名称只是最重要的外部因素,未来的研究可以综合考虑更多的外部因素。     

全渠道零售商营销协同对消费者购买意愿的影响——基于多群组结构方程模型分析

随着新零售的提出,传统实体零售商如何通过全渠道实现转型升级,全渠道零售是否能够满足消费者需求受到广泛关注。基于计划行为理论,构建全渠道营销协同影响消费者购买意愿的实证分析模型,并基于多群组分析探究零售商全渠道营销协同影响消费者购买意愿的主要因素。研究结果表明,产品协同态度、主观规范和知觉行为控制会显著正向影响消费者购买意愿;消费者对产品协同和渠道协同的关注度相对较高;不同消费群体的营销协同态度对购买意愿的影响存在一定差异;商品类别在营销协同态度对购买意愿的影响中起着一定的调节作用。全渠道零售商应根据消费者对不同品类产品的需求,提高产品协同程度;着力推进渠道协同,提供线上线下无缝连接的购物体验;充分利用消费者对线上线下价格差异化敏感程度降低的特点,实施部分产品价格差异化营销策略,并注重线上线下资源的合理配置和营销协同策略之间的密切配合。     

Ethnocentrism and Its Effect on the Chinese Consumer: A Threat to Foreign Goods?

This study examines ethnocentric tendencies including consumer ethnocentrism, country of origin, product judgments, willingness to buy, and animosity toward foreign products among a sample of economically progressive Chinese college students in a coastal port city in northern China. Survey results suggest that these Chinese consumers held a rather positive view of, and little animosity toward, the United States. They also did not show high levels of ethnocentrism or country-of-origin effects. These results would suggest openness toward foreign products. While Chinese consumers report little animosity or ethnocentric tendencies toward U.S. products, animosity, country of origin, and ethnocentrism are significantly correlated with willingness to buy. This suggests managers need to carefully position foreign products with respect to Chinese consumer expectations. Impacts of traditional collectivist views of the Chinese culture are suggested as an avenue for future research with respect to ethnocentrism and willingness to buy foreign products.     

Factors Influencing Young Consumers’ Acceptance of Genetically Modified Food in India

We analyzed the determinants of acceptance of genetically modified food (GMF) by using the probit model. In this study, we found that around 41% of the students are willing to buy GMF, and acceptance of GMF is less in female respondents than male respondents. The findings indicate that in India, benefit perception of GMF outweighed the risk perception. We also found that respondents’ trust in international organizations for truthful information has a positive and significant influence on acceptance of GMF.     

Does impact of campaign and consumer guilt help in exploring the role of national identity and purchase decisions of consumers?

Extant research emphasized the role of consumer guilt and the importance of campaigns in consumers' willingness to buy domestic-made products. The antecedents of willingness to buy domestic-made products have not been well understood in literature. This is because the experience of national identity vis a vis the understanding of the consumers' guilt feeling has partly been explained. To address these concerns, we developed a survey in the context of Indian cities. We note that consumers' experience with foreign-made products is negative when they feel uncomfortable buying them, and thereby develop a feeling of guilt. Marketing managers are more likely to prepare consumers' experiences with their products by emphasizing the high or low impact of the campaign on consumers’ willingness to buy domestic-made products.     

An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility,Corporate Identity and Ethics Teaching in Business Schools

Recent events have raised concerns about the ethical standards of public and private organisations, with some attention falling on business schools as providers of education and training to managers and senior␣executives. This paper investigates the nature of, motivation and commitment to, ethics tuition provided by the business schools. Using content analysis of their institutional and home websites, we appraise their corporate identity, level of engagement in socially responsible programmes, degree of social inclusion, and the relationship to their ethics teaching. Based on published research, a schema is developed with corporate identity forming an integral part, to represent the macro-environment, parent institution, the business school and their relationships to ethics education provision. This is validated by our findings. Dr. Nelarine Cornelius, Reader in Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour, Brunel Business School, Brunel University, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She is also a Chartered Psychologist and is Director of both the Centre for Research in Emotion Work and the Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour Research Group at Brunel University. Dr. James Wallace, Lecturer in Quantitative Methods, School of Management, University of Bradford, is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. He has considerable experience of statistical and mathematical modelling gained over several years in the UK utilities sector and in H.E. His current research interests include, applying statistical and mathematical modelling approaches to Technological, Operational and General Management problems. Dr. Rana Tassabehji, Lecturer in Information Systems and E-business, School of Management, University of Bradford, is a member of the British Academy of Management and the UK Academy for Information Systems. She worked as an international business consultant and as a consultant in the UK IT sector and is currently an academic member of the eGISE eGovernment network. Her research interests include ethics and e-business, Internet security and e-government.     

Understanding consumption in social virtual worlds: A sensemaking perspective on the consumption of virtual goods

Virtual consumption involves consuming virtual goods in cyberspace. Virtual consumption activities are evolving into an essential activity in social virtual worlds. Despite the growing importance of this activity, little research examines this phenomenon. The current study investigates the fundamental question of how users understand the consumption of virtual goods. Using the theory of social representations and core-periphery analysis, this study elicits and analyzes the social representation of virtual consumption. Study participants are 154 Second Life users. Results identify 32 concepts and relationships representing the collective perceptions of virtual consumption in this social virtual world. Social representation map interpretations point to several key themes that provide a foundation for future investigations of virtual economy consumption behavior.     

Business Ethics Auditing – More Than a Stakeholder's Toy

The explosion of interest in responsible corporate citizenship since 1995 has reminded many of the earlier rapid development of interest in environmental management issues. Active stakeholders and lobby groups have successfully exerted pressures on management for improved corporate behaviour. The paper looks at some recent initiatives and draws conclusions about the imprecise terminologies in use. It moves on to consider tools to better manage business risk exposures within the corporation. The example of the Business Ethics Strategic Survey is described, together with the attendant benefits it can deliver to company chairmen, Audit Committees and investment fund managers.     

The Effects of Attitudinal and Demographic Factors on Intention to Buy Pirated CDs: The Case of Chinese Consumers

This study examines the impact of attitude toward piracy on intention to buy pirated CDs using Chinese samples. Attitude toward piracy is measured by a multi-item scale that has been shown to have a consistent factor structure with four distinct components, namely, social cost of piracy, anti-big business attitude, social benefit of dissemination, and ethical belief. Our findings reveal that social benefit of dissemination and anti-big business attitude have a positive relationship with intention to buy pirated CDs while social cost of piracy and ethical belief have a negative relationship. Among these components, ethical belief tends to most strongly predict intention to buy pirated CDs. Demographic variables such as gender and age also help explain the respondents' intention to buy pirated CDs. In addition, those respondents with experience of buying pirated CDs would tend to be more likely to buy pirated CDs than those without such experience. The results are discussed with a view to helping copyright businesses to effectively suppress piracy, and directions for future research are suggested.     

规范性影响敏感度(SNI)如何影响全球品牌购买可能性？——一个整合的理论视角

在消费者行为研究领域,规范性影响敏感度是个很重要的构念。但在全球品牌领域的实证研究还相对有限,其影响全球品牌购买可能性的机制还尚不清楚。为此,文章整合全球品牌资产、社会认同和社会地位消费三大理论,试图在中国市场上探讨规范性影响敏感度如何影响全球品牌购买可能性。通过实证研究,结果表明规范性影响敏感度正向影响质量、自我认同和社会地位,进而影响全球品牌购买可能性。特别地,规范性影响敏感度对社会地位和自我认同的影响大于其对质量的影响。规范性影响敏感度通过质量、自我认同和社会地位三条中介路径影响全球品牌购买可能性,但并列中介分析表明中介效应之间并没有显著差异。这个研究结果有助于我们从基于顾客的品牌资产角度,来理解为什么创建全球品牌要同时兼顾平衡感性路径和理性路径。