The COO Construct: Methodological and Related Issues in a Globalized World

Abstract

This article is the first to empirically assess two known measures of country of origin (COO) constructs to determine their relative effectiveness. Two empirical studies employing real brands from the U.S. and South Korea were conducted. Brand origin recognition accuracy (BORA) and brand familiarity were assessed, in addition to consumer judgments. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relative contribution of alternative COO constructs. The results show that brand familiarity has the largest influence on product quality and purchase intentions. When the two alternative measures of COO are compared directly, in the absence of brand familiarity, the traditional measure of COO captures the effects better than the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) measure. If only one measure of COO is used, both are effective. In addition, both BORA and brand familiarity help us to better understand the conditions that influence COO effects.

Keywords:

• Country of origin
• Stereotype Content Model
• brand origin recognition accuracy
• brand familiarity
• consumer judgments

Acknowledgments

We want to thank the two reviewers whose comments helped us significantly improve this paper.