George Balabanis, Adamantios Diamantopoulos, (2011). Gains and Losses from the Misperception of Brand Origin: The Role of Brand Strength and Country-of-Origin Image. Journal of International Marketing: Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 95-116.
doi: 10.1509/jimk.19.2.95

Gains and Losses from the Misperception of Brand Origin: The Role of Brand Strength and Country-of-Origin Image

George Balabanis, 1

1Professor of Marketing, Cass Business School, City University of London.


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 Diamantopoulos2

2Professor and Chair of International Marketing, University of Vienna.


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.



Abstract

Mounting empirical evidence shows that consumers often associate brands with the wrong country of origin (COO) or are unable to classify a brand to any COO. In this study, the authors investigate the consequences of brand origin mis-classification and nonclassification on consumers' brand image evaluations and associated purchase intentions. Drawing from categorization theory, the authors test hypotheses regarding the impact of brand strength and COO image on misclassification gains and losses on a sample of U.K. consumers. The results show that both misclassification and non-classification have mostly adverse consequences on both brand evaluations and purchase intentions. The findings further show that strong brands are not immune to misclassification and stress the importance of ensuring that consumers are aware of a brand's true COO.

Cited by

Miriam Moeller, Michael Harvey, David Griffith, Glenn Richey. (2012) The impact of country-of-origin on the acceptance of foreign subsidiaries in host countries: An examination of the ‘liability-of-foreignness’. International Business Review
Online publication date: 1-Apr-2012.
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Petra Riefler. (2011) Why consumers do (not) like global brands: The role of globalization attitude, GCO and global brand origin. International Journal of Research in Marketing
Online publication date: 1-Dec-2011.
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Peter Magnusson, Stanford A. Westjohn, Srdan Zdravkovic. (2011) Further clarification on how perceived brand origin affects brand attitude: A reply to Samiee and Usunier. International Marketing Review 28:5, 497-507
Online publication date: 1-Jan-2011.
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Oscar Martín Martín, Julio Cerviño. (2011) Towards an integrative framework of brand country of origin recognition determinants: A cross-classified hierarchical model. International Marketing Review 28:6, 530-558
Online publication date: 1-Jan-2011.
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