Polarizing influence of power distance on country of origin effect

Abstract

Purpose

Country of origin (COO) effect refers to the influence of COO on consumers' perception and evaluation of a product. This research explores the impact of consumers' power distance on COO effect.

Design/methodology/approach

We conducted two experiments to test the relevant hypotheses.

Findings

The results indicate that power distance has a polarizing influence on COO effect. That means, for products from countries with good images, the higher the consumers' power distance, the better their evaluation of the products; while for products from countries with poor images, the higher the power distance, the worse their evaluation of the products. The research also finds the moderating effect of consumers' competence–related country-related affect (CRA). When holding positive competence–related CRA, for products from countries with good images, the higher the consumers' power distance, the better their evaluation of the products; for products from countries with poor images, consumers' power distance has no effect. When having negative competence–related CRA, for products from countries with poor images, the higher the consumers' power distance, the worse their evaluation of the products; for products from countries with good images, power distance has no effect.

Originality/value

This study finds that depending on the perception of COO image, power distance not only improves the evaluation of products but also lows such evaluation, reflecting a two-way polarizing feature.

Citation

Wang, X. and Ding, C. (2021), "Polarizing influence of power distance on country of origin effect", Journal of Contemporary Marketing Science, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 223-237. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCMARS-06-2021-0017