AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF COUNTRY …ijmrr.com/admin/upload_data/journal_Ashutosh...

ISSN: 2249-7196

IJMRR/June 2017/ Volume 7/Issue 6/Article No-9/692-705

Ashutosh Chandrashekhar Zunjur et. al., / International Journal of Management Research & Review

*Corresponding Author www.ijmrr.com 692

AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF COUNTRY OF ORIGIN ON

ELECTRONIC ITEMS’ PURCHASE IN PUNE CITY

Ashutosh Chandrashekhar Zunjur*1, Dr. Lopez Joe

2

1Asst. Prof, Dr. D. Y. Patil Institute of Technology, Pimpri, Pune, India.

2Assoc. Prof, Sadhu Vaswani Institute of Management Studies, Koregaon Park, Pune, India.

ABSTRACT

Literature review on Country of origin effect was done. Through this review gaps in existing

literature were identified. To address these gaps the research is undertaken with the purpose

to investigate whether consumers are affected by country of origin while buying mobile

phones and laptops. Also to find out the demography of consumers, for whom country of

origin is (if at all) important factor while they buy mobile phones and laptops. For collecting

responses non-probabilistic sampling technique was used. 100 of respondents from Pune,

India were contacted personally. Out of these responses 89 responses were considered

appropriate for analysis as other responses were not complete in all matters. Results showed

that general population does not get influenced by country of origin while buying Mobile

phones or Laptops. T test and ANOVA were used to investigate relationship between Gender

and Age on Country of origin effect. Results showed that youngsters are impacted by country

of origin effect. However such effect was seen only for mobile phones, for laptops no such

effect was observed. The research implications and scope for future studies are stated in the

report.

Keywords: Country of Origin, Mobile Phone, Laptop, Electronic items, ANOVA.

1. INTRODUCTION

Indian market is open to almost every category of foreign products. Recently the percentage

of Foreign Direct Investment in retail industry is raised to 100% in single brand by Indian

Govt. (Government Relaxes FDI Norms for Single Brand Retail, E-Commerce for Food

Products, 2016). This may result in availability of wide range of retail products which were

not introduced to Indian market earlier or which could made available only in select stores.

This will lead to very tough competition among the players in retail industry. Such reforms

are more likely to take place in years to come (Govt. may ease FDI norms for multi-brand

retail, 2017). Furthermore today the Indian market is one of the most promising economies

in the globe. This is because the demography of the country’s population. Large amount of

the population today in India lies in ‘working population’ category that is in the Age of 25-49

years (Wikipedia, n.d.). This signifies the high disposal income of Indian consumer. This is

the main reason that international marketers are looking at Indian market with a great hope

and making their products and services available here.

http://www.ijmrr.com/


Copyright © 2017 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 693

Such events definitely will result in tough job for international and domestic marketers to

attract and retain Indian consumer since wide range of offerings are already available.

To outperform such competition marketers need to deeply dive into the buying behaviors of

Indian consumers. Once marketers catch the exact nerve of the consumer then only, they can

set effective strategies to attract new consumers at their offerings.

India is one of the biggest markets for electronic products (Consumer durable, 2016).

Furthermore new technologies are being developed at much faster pace. This makes the

electronic gadgets outdated very soon (High obsolescence rate of technologies triggers

investment in e-waste mgmt. market in India, 2014). Due to such technological advancements

youngsters keep on updating their gadgets/ products. These products are either of Indian

origin (Godrej, Intex, Micromax, Videocon, Voltas etc.) or foreign origin -Apple, Samsung,

LG, Panasonic to name a few. So it is a matter of investigation to realize what makes Indian

consumer to buy what they buy.

This research is an attempt to realize if it really does matter to consumers where the product

belongs to. The product categories chosen for this research are Mobile Phones and Laptops.

2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Nagashima (1970) defines Country of Origin as “Picture, reputation, or stereotype

consumers attach to products of a particular country.”

Nebenzahl, Jaffe and Lampert (1997) defined country of origin as: “Associated with a certain

product or brand regardless of where the product is produced.”

The Country of Origin informs people about the origin of a particular product. If the image of

the country is favourable then consumers evaluate the product which is developed or

originated in that country, positively, even though the consumers do not have any past

experience with that product category. This indicates that consumers may even end up buying

a mobile phone of a particular country even if they do not have any prior experience of using

mobile phone originating from that country. But they buy it only because they possess a

positive image of that country in mind.

The country of origin effect is being investigated for almost last fifty years. Because of

globalisation and liberalisation many brands have gone global. For such global brands

country of origin effect plays vital role. Country of origin effect is a major factor for driving

consumers’ perceptions and intention to buy. Because of this, country of origin effect has

attracted attention of many practitioners and researchers. Every country has positive image

for producing particular category of products, due to technological superiority, product

quality, availability of good quality of raw materials, product design and so on…Therefore

consumers prefer a particular product originating from a particular region. Sometimes this

positive country image is not restricted to that particular product category. Consumers may

even give the same image to wide range of products. This is stereotyping and it may take

place because of attitudes towards a particular country; familiarity with the country,

demographic and cultural characteristics of the consumers.

The country image may be transposed to products and if the country image is positive then

consumers evaluate product from that country positively. It may also be possible that



consumers perceive country image from the products they are familiar with from that

particular country.

Many research studies have been conducted in the area of country of origin. Most of them

researchers opine that country of origin effect is still relevant area of research even today.

Framework of this study is shown in figure no.1.

Fig. 1: Framework of the study

It is hypothesized that male youngsters consider country of origin of Mobile Phones and

Laptops before they buy them.

3. LITERATURE REVIEW

Peterson and Jolibert (1995) suggest that the effect of country of origin gets magnified when

researchers consider country of origin as the only cue, whereas studies which focused on

multiple cues reported that effect of country of origin and purchase intention are not

significantly related. Also authors criticize that many past studies verbally described products

to respondents which resulted in significant effect of country of origin. However if actual

products would have been used then results would also have been differed. Authors suggest

that future studies should take into account of moderating variables along with the effect of

country of origin on quality, reliability, and purchase intention.

Cheron and Propek (1997) reviewed the researches already conducted on Country of Origin

construct. They found that country of origin effect has significant influence on product

evaluation. Authors also suggest that country of origin may not be considered by consumers

at the time of buying. In real life scene consumers’ buying decision may also be affected by

Prestige of the Brand, Image of retail store, price of the product, after sale service, product

familiarity etc.

Agrawal and Kamakura (1999), investigated the differences in objective quality at country of

origin level, and whether marketers take benefit of positive product-country image and

charge Premium/Discounts on their products. 122 brands from 10 different countries were

included in the study. The result indicated that objective quality of the products varies as per

country of origin. Consumers rated Japanese products of high quality compared to other

countries in the study. Another important investigation of the research is that, consumers do

not seem to pay premium price just because they hold good perception of the country from

which the good is originated. In addition to this it was also supported that people do not pay

less for the products originating from the country for which they hold negative image.

Authors further point that there is no major attempt to quantify the influence of country of

origin effect on actual market. They opine that effect in real market has to be measured as the

Male (+ve)

Female (-ve)

Age

Effect of Country of

Origin

Gender

(-ve)



result obtained from controlled experiment may differ in real market scene. Authors support

that the country of origin is valid cue from which consumers observe objective quality of the

product.

Beverland and Lindgreen (2002) examined six agribusinesses in New Zealand who use

country of origin in their strategy with varying degrees. They found that the influence of

Country of Origin is dynamic. They suggest that effect of country of origin depends upon

origin and its product category history. Therefore marketers should assess if country of origin

and product category history are positively associated or not. If they are negatively associated

then country of origin must not be considered while designing a promotional strategy. In

some instances even if such association is positive supply of products may restrict to seasonal

availability of the products. In such cases also one should not embark on country of origin in

their marketing programme. Authors proclaim that country of origin is not so important to

consumers when they are more familiar with the product they are buying. Therefore they

suggest that not to use country of origin construct in marketing strategies when product

reaches maturity phase of its life cycle. Authors support that country of origin construct is

complex in nature and its effect is neither universal nor uniform. This finding suggests that

future studies should be conducted in different regions with different product categories.

Authors also suggest that future studies should develop a contingency model for country of

origin effect.

Cai Y., Cude B., and Swagler R. (2004), conducted an experiment to investigate the country

of origin effect on purchase intention. Tangible goods were used during experiment in the

study and participants were given different level of information. Price manipulations were

done to realize the magnitude of country of origin effect. Results supported that respondents

do consider the degree of economic development of the sourcing country even when other

information is available while making a purchase decision. However results also showed that

when prices of products of economically less developed country fall consumers’ willingness

to buy those products increases. But this is true only in case of nondurable products. When

prices of durable products are lowered consumers still prefer durables from developed

country to buy. Authors report that most of the researches in late 1990s support that as

globalization is increasing products are becoming hybrid i.e. components arrive from several

countries and get fit together in another country, the relevance of country of origin will also

decrease. However authors, criticize this by giving examples of Ford, Coca cola, and General

Electric which still have impression as ‘American Products’ on consumers’ mind worldwide.

And therefore brand themselves shed country of origin effect on consumers’ demand.

Authors also argue that hybrid products can impart greater opportunities to marketers by

designing proper promotional origin campaigns.

Chowdhury and Abe (2006) in their research note that providing country of origin

information may be very strong strategic tool in the hands for the products which come from

the countries which have positive image in consumers’ minds. Further they also note that

when consumer retrieve information from memory related to country, and if consumer

retrieves good image of the country then it will lead to positive perception about the quality

of the products coming from that country. Authors give reference of Lee 1999, and note that



if consumers perceive the product to be from a country which has good image then

consumers feel that risk in buying that product is also less. The findings showed that

consumers will use extrinsic cues (Country of Origin for instance) to draw conclusion when

some other attributes are missing. Thus marketers can develop these important cues and

provide information about such cues which consumers may not possess. Authors support

findings of past researches and note that price does not affect consumers’ quality perception

when other quality cues like country of origin and corporate image are available to

consumers. The result also indicates that country of origin has significant impact on both

perception of quality and perception of risk.

Jean-Claude Usunier (2006) suggest that country of origin is less important construct when it

comes to marketing practices as both consumers and marketers are not fully aware about the

academic research conducted on country of origin effect. The author further argues that

consumer doesn’t consider the country where a product is produced. For more than 40 years

country of origin area is being researched, however the researches face friction. Authors also

give evidences from other researches which support that no research is successful in

designing a practicable framework for use of country of origin construct.

Josiassen and Harzing (2008) in their research work argue that country of origin is still

relevant concept for the research, but it has to address several critical challenges. Authors

critically comment of the research of Usunier (2006) and bring it to notice that the magnitude

of importance of the country where a product is manufactured changes with the category of

the product. It was noticed that significant number of consumer consider country of origin

while buying a car. Authors further ad that companies are actively and successfully

manipulating perceptions about country of origin for the benefit of the brand. This may not be

the evidence for irrelevancy of country of origin research. Authors further indicate that it is

rather boosting the need for studying country of origin area with different dimension. They

also suggest that high quality research on country of origin should consider only product

category which is relevant to consumers (respondents) and for which consumers

(respondents) have knowledge. This research summarise that the impact of Country of Origin

is still uncertain and not fully discovered. They refer to earlier research (Usunier 2006) which

found that Country of origin is influential when product is not familiar to buyer. However

they also give reference of Johansson, 1989 who found that more the familiarity with the

product higher will be the use of country of origin cue to make purchase decision.

Tamas (2015) in his review of literature concluded that country of origin effect is very

complex in nature. He found that effect of country of origin on consumers’ buying behaviour

changes over a period of time. The author further ads that same research if conducted with

same methods, same samples, but keeping a time gap between two studies, will not result in

same results. The author also strongly feels that even after 50 years of research no research

could completely describe the country of origin phenomenon. However the researcher also

support that country of origin effect is found in most of the researches regardless of different

settings, different scales, and different methodology used. Author makes very interesting

comment based on his findings, which says, if one studies country of origin effect from

product quality perspective, he may find country of origin effect from different angle, if



someone studies it from the willingness to buy perspective may explore different dimension.

Researcher further explains that the country of origin effect studies would not focus only on

theoretical frameworks, but would do on practical implications.

Research Gap in Existing Literature

Current literature suggests that research work on country of origin effect should consider

product category which is relevant to consumers and for which consumers have enough

knowledge. In addition to this existing literature has mixed findings on product familiarity

and country of origin effect. Some say higher the familiarity higher will be the effect of

country of origin while other say otherwise.

One research review sums up that if one studies country of origin effect from product quality

perspective, he may find country of origin effect from different angle, if someone studies it

from the willingness to buy perspective may explore different dimension.

Literature on country of origin suggests that Country of Origin is complex construct and so

far no theoretical framework could explain it completely. Therefore this research work will

consider all these gaps in existing literature and will try to address them.

4. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

To address gap in research identified product category selected in electronic items. Electronic

items are familiar to almost every consumer. Moreover this research focuses only on Mobile

Phones and Laptops. These two products are very well known to consumers. Therefore it will

help to address the gap in the research which has mixed findings on familiarity of the product

and effect of origin. This research study is undertaken with the aim of studying effect of

country of origin on electronic items’ evaluation. The research also aims at investigating

relationship among age and gender on effect of country of origin. In this study the effect of

country of origin will be studied to find its effect on willingness to buy.

5. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

Very few research works have been conducted for electronic items and particularly for

Mobile phones and laptops. The effect of country of origin is dynamic and not static therefore

its effect may change over period of time as economy and demography of the region goes on

changing. This makes it necessary to investigate effect of Country of Origin repeatedly after a

certain period. Studies conducted in same region with same samples may give different

results if conducted with time gap between them. Also till date no concrete theoretical

framework is developed for country of origin effect. This paper is an attempt to find

relationship between some demographic characteristics and country of origin effect. This

research will help Marketers of Mobile Phones and laptops to understand effect of country of

origin. Such knowledge may be utilized to frame marketing strategies.

6. RESEARCH METHOD

6.1 Instrument

Scale for measuring effect of COO was adapted from the research work of Lascu and Babbs

(1995). The original scale has 13 items. However, for this study only 11 items were used



from original scale. The responses are measured on 5 point Likert’s Scale where 1 represents

“Strongly Disagree’ and 5 represents ‘Strongly Agree’. The words from these scales are

modified to fit the context of this research. Two sets of questionnaire were administered out

of which one was for Mobile Phones and other was for Laptops. In addition to these

questions two more questions were used to study if consumers’ perception of quality of

Mobile Phones/ Laptops changed in cases where consumers realized that the actual country

of origin of the product is different than what they had perceived so far. In this way there

were total 24 questions in the questionnaire. To collect demographic information of

respondents (Age and Gender) two questions were used in the last section of the

questionnaire.

6.2 Data collection

Any consumer who bought Mobile Phones and Laptops was sample unit for this research.

Non-probabilistic convenient sampling technique was used to collect data from respondents.

100 samples from Pune city in India were contacted personally based on convenience and

were asked to rate their opinions for every statement in the questionnaire. Out of 100

responses so collected, only 89 responses were considered appropriate for analysis. Other

responses were incomplete in one or the other matter therefore could not be considered.

7. ANALYSIS

Table 1: Demographic Characteristics of respondents

Characteristic Frequency (in Percentage)

Age (in Years)

16-25 76.4

26-35 22.5

36-45 0

46 and above 1.1

Total 100

Gender

Male 77.5

Female 22.5

Total 100

7.1 Scale Reliability

The scale showed strong internal consistency with Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.953. The reliability

statistics is shown in Table no. 2

Table 2: Reliability Statistics

Cronbach’s Alpha N of Items

.953 28

7.2 Variables

Table 3: Dependent/ Independent Variables

Variable Definition Dependent/ Independent

Country of Origin effect Nagashima (1970) defines it as

“Picture, reputation, or stereotype

consumers attach to products of a

particular country.”

Dependent

Age (Demographic characteristic) Independent

Gender (Demographic characteristic) Independent



7.3 Measurement of Effect of Country of Origin

Table 4: Country of Origin Effect for Mobile Phones: Means and Standards Deviation

Item Mean Std. Dev.

1. When buying expensive Mobile Phone I always seek what country it is made in 3.49 1.13

2. To make sure that I buy highest quality of Mobile Phone I look what country

the product made in.

3.70 1.25

3. I feel it is important to see country of origin of Mobile Phone while deciding to

buy

3.49 1.27

4. I look for the "Made in...." labels from Mobile Phones 3.87 1.28

5. Seeking country of origin is less important for inexpensive Mobile Phones than

expensive ones

3.10 1.03

6. I look for country of origin information to choose the best Mobile Phone

available in the product class

3.51 1.39

7. I find out country of origin of Mobile Phone to determine the quality of that

product

3.66 1.47

8. When I am buying a new Mobile Phone the country of origin is the first piece

of information that I consider

3.18 1.40

9. To buy a product that is acceptable to my friends and my family, I look for

Mobile Phone’s country of origin

3.30 1.57

10. If I have little experience with the Mobile Phone, I search for country of origin

information of the product to help me make more informed decision.

3.47 1.43

11. When buying an Mobile Phone which is less expensive, it is less important to

look for country of origin

3.55 1.19

Mean Score 3.48

The scale to measure country of origin consisted 11 items. Responses were recorded on 5

Point Liker scale where 1 represents ‘Strongly Disagree’ and 5 means ‘Strongly Agree’. The

mean score of all 11 items for mobile phone is 3.48. This suggests that the effect of Country

of Origin is not significant on Mobile Phone’s purchase decision. The highest rating is for the

statement-‘I look for the "Made in...." labels from Mobile Phones’, while the lowest is for the

statement-‘ Seeking country of origin is less important for inexpensive Mobile Phones than

expensive ones’. The standard deviations for all the statements are above 1 which suggests

that the opinions are widely spread.

Table 5: Country of Origin Effect for Laptops: Means and Standards Deviation

Item Mean Std. Dev.

14. When buying expensive Laptop I always seek what country it is made in. 3.45 1.43

15. To make sure that I buy highest quality of Laptop I look what country the product

made in.

3.31 1.27

16. I feel it is important to see country of origin of Laptop while deciding to buy 3.57 1.39

17. I look for the "Made in...." labels from Laptops 3.70 1.39

18. Seeking country of origin is less important for inexpensive electronic items than

expensive ones

3.33 1.15

19. I look for country of origin information to choose the best Laptop available in the

product class

3.16 1.24

20. I find out country of origin of Laptop to determine the quality of that product 3.60 1.30

21. When I am buying a new Laptop the country of origin is the first piece of

information that I consider

3.16 1.26

22. To buy a laptop that is acceptable to my friends and my family, I look for

Laptop’s country of origin

3.27 1.41

23. If I have little experience with the Laptop, I search for country of origin

information of the product to help me make more informed decision.

3.33 1.40

24. When buying an Laptop which is less expensive, it is less important to look for

country of origin

3.19 1.19

Mean Score 3.37



The scale used to investigate effect of country of origin for laptops was also consisted same

items. The same statement ‘I look for the "Made in...." labels from Laptops’ received highest

rating(3.70). The lowest rating (3.16) was received for ‘When I am buying a new Laptop the

country of origin is the first piece of information that I consider’ statement. Mean Score of

all the items is 3.37 that indicate the effect of Country of Origin is not significant on Laptop’s

purchase decision. Here also standard deviations for all statements are more than 1 showing

that views are widely spread.

Table 6: Crosstabs statistics for Change in perception (for Mobile Phones)

Count

13. If your answer to Q 12 is Yes, then to what extend

your perception toward that Mobile Phone or brand

changed. (If it happened with you for multiple times

you can mark more than one option from following)

Total

Extremel

y Poor

Quality

Poor

Qualit

y

My

Perceptio

n about

Quality

did not

change

Good

Quality

Extremel

y Good

Quality

12. In the past, you

bought mobile phone

assuming it to be from

a particular country,

but after a while you

got to know that

country of origin of

that phone is different

than you perceived

earlier. Did such thing

happen with you?

Yes 2 1 7 21 3 34

No 0 0 49 0 0 49

Maybe 0 0 4 2 0 6

Total 2 1 58 25 3 89

Table no 6 shows that 34 consumers out of 89 (38%) misperceived country of origin of

mobile phone they had bought. When these respondents realized the actual country of origin

of the country, 27 (79%) respondents’ perception about the overall quality of the product

changed. From these 27 respondents 24 consumers’ perception changed to ‘good quality’.

This indicates that these consumers (respondents) had drawn quality perception from country

image, although the number is not significant. Only 6.7% of respondents reported that it

doesn’t matter to them if they misperceived country of origin of mobile phones they bought.



Table 7: Crosstabs statistics for Change in perception (for Laptops)

Count

26. If your answer to Q 25 is Yes, then to what extend

your perception toward that Laptop or brand changed.

(If it happened with you for multiple times you can

mark more than one option from following)

Total

Extremely

Poor

Quality

Poor

Quality

My

Perception

about

Quality

did not

change

Good

Quality

Extremely

Good

Quality

25. In the past, you

bought Laptop

assuming it to be from

a particular country,

but after a while you

go to know that

country of origin of

that phone is different

than you perceived

earlier. Did such thing

happen with you?

Yes 1 2 16 1 3 23

No 0 0 55 0 0 55

Maybe 0 0 7 2 2 11

Total 1 2 78 3 5 89

From table no. 7 it can be observed that 23 respondents misperceived (34% of all

respondents) country of origin of laptop they had bought already. Out of these respondents 16

(almost 70%) reported that even if they misperceived country of origin their perception about

quality of Laptop remained unchanged. From this it can be inferred that consumers’

perception about quality of a Laptop may not be affected by country of origin of that laptop.

In other words country of origin effect is insignificant when it comes to buying Laptops.

Table 8: Independent Sample T test for Country of origin effect (for Mobile Phones)

and gender

Independent Samples Test

Levene's

Test for

Equality of

Variances

t-test for Equality of Means

F Sig. t df Sig. (2-

tailed)

Mean

Diff.

Std.

Error

Diff.

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Mobile

AVG

Equal

variances

assumed

.987 .323 .507 87 .614 .11884 .23451 -.34727 .58495

Equal

variances

not

assumed

.518 31.938 .608 .11884 .22928 -.34823 .58591

From table no. 8 it is observed that significance value for t test is more than 0.05. That means

there is no significant difference between the means of country of origin effect and gender.



This indicates that no significant relationship between gender and country of origin effect for

mobile phones.

Table 9: ANOVA (Age and Country of origin for mobile phones)

ANOVA

Mobile AVG

Sum of

Squares

df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 7.787 2 3.893 5.026 .009

Within Groups 66.618 86 .775

From table no. 9it is observed that significant value is less than 0.05. This suggests that age

and country of origin effect for mobile phones are significantly related. To confirm the

relationship between age and country of origin effect for Mobile Phones correlation test was

conducted.

Table 10: Correlations between country of origin for Mobile Phones and Age

Mobile

AVG Age

Mobile

AVG

Pearson Correlation 1 -.283(**)

Sig. (2-tailed) .007

N 89 89

Age Pearson Correlation -.283(**) 1

Sig. (2-tailed) .007

N 89 89

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

From table no. 10 it is clear that age and country of origin effect are negatively related. It can

be stated that there is significant effect of country of origin on purchase decision of

youngsters while they buy Mobile Phones (or intend to buy).

Table 11: Independent Sample Test for country of origin (for Laptops) and gender

Independent Samples Test

Levene's Test

for Equality

of Variances

t-test for Equality of Means

F Sig. t df Sig.

(2-

tailed)

Mean

Diff.

Std.

Error

Diff.

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Laptop

AVG

Equal

variances

not

assumed

2.298 .133 .879 87 .382 .23333 .26556 -.29450 .76116

Equal

variances

assumed

.965 35.934 .341 .23333 .24184 -.25717 .72384



Table no. 11 shows that significant value for t test is more than 0.05. Therefore it can be

inferred that there is no significant relationship between country of origin effect for laptops

and gender of consumers.

Table 12: ANOVA (Age and Country of Origin effect for Laptops)

ANOVA

Laptop AVG

Sum of

Squares

df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 4.957 2 2.478 2.342 .102

Within Groups 91.021 86 1.058

Total 95.978 88

As significant value is not less than 0.05 (table no. 12) it can be said that o significant

relationship exists between age of consumer and country of origin effect while buying

laptops.

8. CONCLUSION

It was found from the mean score of the country of origin cue, scale that country of origin cue

is not one of the most important cues for consumers while they buy mobile phones or laptops.

8.1 Country of Origin effect and Mobile Phones

Results showed that 38% of respondents misperceived country of origin of mobile phones

they had bought. When these respondents realized the actual country of origin of the country,

79% of 38% of respondents’ perception about the overall quality of the product changed.

From these 79% of respondents, perception of most of the respondents changed to ‘good

quality’. This indicates that consumers (respondents) draw quality perception from country

image, although the number is not significant. Only 6.7% of respondents reported that it

doesn’t matter to them if they misperceived country of origin of mobile phones they bought.

Relation between Gender and Country of Origin Effect is not significant. From results it can

be observed that significant relationship exists between age and country of origin effect in

case of mobile phones. Results showed that ‘Age’ and ‘Country of Origin effect’ are

inversely related. That means youngsters consider country of origin cue to make judgment

about quality while buying or intend to buy Mobile phones while old age people least refer to

country of origin cue.

8.2 Country of Origin effect and Mobile Phones

Almost 70% of the consumers’ perceptions; who misperceived country of origin of Laptops

they had already bought; did not change even after realizing the actual country of origin. This

indicates that for Laptops users Country of Origin is of least important among factors which

influence buying decision.

Surprisingly unlike in case of mobile phones relationship between ‘Age’ and ‘Country of

Origin effect’ for Laptops is not significant. Relationship between ‘Gender’ and ‘Country of

Origin effect’ is also insignificant like in case of Mobile phones.



9. MANAGERIAL IMPLICATION

Findings show that youngsters perceive quality from country of origin while buying Mobile

phones. As youngsters are the largest consumer segment for mobile phones, companies

should focus on their strategies. The mobile Phones originated from a country which has

good image among society may use that image for benefit of their products’ sale. Otherwise

country of origin should be maintained undisclosed. But while doing so companies should

also keep it in mind that country of origin effect is dynamic and not static in behavior

(Nagashima, A., 1970, 1977). Therefore companies have to always keep on checking country

of origin effect for a particular product category after a certain time gap.

This research only takes into account if at all country of origin has its influence on buying

decision (particularly for Mobile Phones and Laptops). Future research can include several

other product categories and also may include names of some countries to investigate country

of origin effect in details.

10. LIMITATIONS AND SCOPE FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

The sample size is very small therefore findings may not be generalized for large population.

Moreover samples selected were well educated and well known to brands of mobile phones

and laptops. If samples those who are not highly educated and do not recognize many brands

were included results would have been different. Therefore it is suggested for future studies

to include such population also.

The scale used to investigate country of origin effect did not include specific countries’

names. Future studies may make use of different countries’ names based on their general

image among population.

REFERENCES

[1] Agrawal, J., & Kamakura, W. A. (1999). Country of origin: A competitive advantage?

International Journal of Research in Marketing, 16(4), 255-267.

[2] Agrawal J, Kamakura WA. Country of origin: A competitive advantage?. International

Journal of Research in Marketing 1999; 16(4): 255-267.

[3] Bagozzi RP, Yi Y, Baumgartner J. The level of effort required for behaviour as a

moderator of the attitude–behaviour relation. European Journal of Social Psychology 1990;

20(1): 45-59.

[4] Bamber D, Phadke S, Jyotishi A. Product-knowledge, ethnocentrism and purchase

intention: COO study in India. Global Markets and Workforce, 2011.

[5] Beverland M, Lindgreen A. Using country of origin in strategy: The importance of

context and strategic action. The Journal of Brand Management 2002; 10(2): 147-167.

[6] Cai Y, Cude B, Swagler R. Country-of-origin effects on consumers' willingness to buy

foreign products: An experiment in consumer decision making. Consumer Interests Annual

2004; 50: 98-105.

[7] Cengiz E, Kirkbir F. Turkish consumers’ evaluation of products made in foreign

countries: the country of origin effect. Innovative Marketing 2007; 3(2): 72-98.



[8] Cheron EJ, Propeck J. The effects of the country of origin on the evaluation of products: a

state of the art review and research propositions. Université du Québec à Montréal, Centre de

recherche en gestion, 1997.

[9] Consumer Durables, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.ibef.org/download/Consumer-

Durables-January-2016.pdf

[10] Government Relaxes FDI Norms for Single Brand Retail, E-Commerce for Food

Products, 2016. Retrieved from http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/government-relaxes-

fdi-norms-for-single-brand-retail-e-commerce-for-food-products-851325

[11] Govt may ease FDI norms for multi-brand retail, 2017. Retrieved from

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/tNTo0DQKfev0gfhyxnu4PP/Govt-may-ease-FDI-norms-

for-multibrand-retail.html

[12] Ibrahim II, Subari KA, Kassim KM, Mohamood SKB. Antecedent Stirring Purchase

Intention of Smartphone among Adolescents in Perlis. International Journal of Academic

Research in Business and Social Sciences 2013; 3(12): 84.

[13] Josiassen A, Harzing AW. Comment: Descending from the ivory tower: reflections on

the relevance and future of country‐of‐origin research. European Management Review 2008;

5(4): 264-270.

[14] Milan GS, Bebber S, Eberle D. Information quality, distrust and perceived risk as

antecedents of purchase intention in the online purchase context. Journal of Management

Information System and E-Commerce 2015; 2(2): 111-129.

[15] Nagashima A. A comparison of Japanese and US attitudes toward foreign products. The

Journal of Marketing 1970; 68-74.

[16] Nebenzahl ID, Jaffe ED, Lampert SI. Towards a theory of country image effect on

product evaluation. MIR: Management International Review 1997; 27-49.

[17] Papadopoulos N. What product and country images are and are not. Product-country

images: Impact and role in international marketing 1993; 3-38.

[18] Peterson RA, Jolibert AJ. A meta-analysis of country-of-origin effects. Journal of

International business studies 1995; 26(4): 883-900.

[19] Shankarmahesh MN. Consumer ethnocentrism: an integrative review of its antecedents

and consequences. International Marketing Review 2006; 23(2): 146-172.

[20] Smaiziene I, Vaitkiene R. Country of origin effect in a Lithuanian market of vitamins

and dietary supplements. International Business Research 2013; 6(12): 118.

[21] Tamas A. The Fractal Nature of The Country of Origin Effect-Exploring 50 Years of

Coo Research. European Scientific Journal 2015; 11(28).

[22] Usunier JC. Relevance in business research: the case of country‐of‐origin research in

marketing. European Management Review 2006; 3(1): 60-73.

[23] Verlegh PW, Steenkamp JBE. A review and meta-analysis of country-of-origin

research. Journal of economic psychology 1999; 20(5): 521-546.

[24] Wikipedia. (n.d.). Demographics of India. Retrieved from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_India.

https://www.ibef.org/download/Consumer-Durables-January-2016.pdf

https://www.ibef.org/download/Consumer-Durables-January-2016.pdf

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/government-relaxes-fdi-norms-for-single-brand-retail-e-commerce-for-food-products-851325

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/government-relaxes-fdi-norms-for-single-brand-retail-e-commerce-for-food-products-851325

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/tNTo0DQKfev0gfhyxnu4PP/Govt-may-ease-FDI-norms-for-multibrand-retail.html

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/tNTo0DQKfev0gfhyxnu4PP/Govt-may-ease-FDI-norms-for-multibrand-retail.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_India

Date post:	30-Jan-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	phungthuy
View:	219 times
Download:	1 times

AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF COUNTRY …ijmrr.com/admin/upload_data/journal_Ashutosh...

Documents