Executive Summary
Several studies have shown that consumers are often not aware of the true national origin of many (even well-known) brands and thus display limited brand origin recognition accuracy. However, although prior research has investigated key antecedents of brand origin misclassification, the consequences of the latter have not been empirically examined.
Balabanis and Diamantopoulos focus explicitly on the impact of brand origin misclassification (and nonclassification) on brand image evaluations and purchase intentions. Using categorization theory for conceptual guidance, the authors develop several hypotheses regarding the role of brand strength and country-of-origin (COO) image on misclassification gains and losses. They subsequently develop a measure for assessing the magnitude of such gains/losses and use it to test the research hypotheses on a sample of U.K. consumers.
The findings show that brand origin misclassification and nonclassification are almost invariably detrimental for companies because they adversely affect both consumers’ brand image evaluations and associated purchase intentions. Importantly, the results also indicate that strong brands are not immune to COO misclassification and that they suffer losses even when such misclassification is favorable (i.e., when the brand in question is associated with an origin that has a stronger country image than its true origin). Taken collectively, the findings highlight the importance of educating/reminding consumers of a brand’s true origin because both adverse COO and nonclassification negatively affect brand image evaluations and purchase intentions and, therefore, constitute threats to branding.
Biography
George Balabanis is Professor of Marketing in the Cass Business School at the City University of London and holds a doctoral degree from Strathclyde University. His research focuses on the areas of international marketing strategy, cross-cultural consumer behavior, and online relationships. His work has been published in outlets such as Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of International Marketing, Long Range Planning, Journal of Business Research, British Journal of Management, International Business Review, International Marketing Review, Journal of Global Marketing, and European Journal of Marketing, as well as many prestigious conference proceedings.
Adamantios Diamantopoulos holds the Chair of International Marketing at the University of Vienna, Austria, as well as visiting professorships at Loughborough University and Ljubljana University. His main research interests include international marketing and research methodology, and his work has appeared in, among others, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Service Research, Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Retailing, and Journal of Business Research.
Journal International Marketing, Volume 19, Number 2, June 2011
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