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This paper aims to provide an integrated model of nation branding, propose a comprehensive definition of this concept and differentiate between nation branding and other related constructs.

To analyze nation branding academic literature, this paper used a systematic literature review approach to investigate academic studies related to nation and country branding. All relevant studies on the nation and country branding between 1996 and mid-2021 were extracted from six selected databases, including Elsevier’s Science Direct, Emerald, Sage, Wiley, Springer and Jstor, by using a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis process. The reviewed papers were coded and analyzed to extract themes and concepts.

The results of this paper show that nation branding is influenced by six main factors, namely, business and marketing, political, social and cultural, economic and labor, international and environmental factors; it comprises one key component, that is, nation branding; it results in five major consequences, including social, economic and financial, business, international and political consequences, and is moderated mainly by socio-demographic variables. Additional contributions of this paper are the proposal of a comprehensive definition of nation branding based on the extant literature and identifying nation branding differences with other constructs that sometimes have been previously used interchangeably with nation branding. This paper concludes with suggestions for future research in the field.

This paper uses the themes and concepts uncovered by the analysis to conceptualize nation branding, provides an integrated model of nation branding and distinguishes it from other related branding concepts. This paper also summarizes what nation branding is versus what it is not.

The purpose of this paper is to create and validate a scale that measures consumer xenocentrism in developing countries, where this phenomenon is furthermost prevalent. This study aimed for the conceptualization, construct development and validation of a new scale labeled X-Scale. The theoretical framework was based on the theories of social comparison, system justification and culture.

This study employed a mixed-method and multi-stage research approach to investigate the domain of xenocentrism in the context of consumer behavior and subsequently develop a scale (X-Scale), while assessing its dimensionality, reliability and validity. Qualitative and quantitative techniques were used for the development of the scale. Multi-stage data from five developing countries were collected for validation purposes: Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and China.

Results indicate that the consumer xenocentrism construct has two dimensions: foreign admiration and domestic rejection. Each dimension is comprised of five items. The reliability tests, the goodness-of-fit measures and the psychometric properties indicate a reliable construct. In addition, this study shows that consumer xenocentrism is a key predictor of consumers’ preferences for foreign brands over domestic ones.

This is the first empirical study on consumer xenocentrism conducted in several developing countries. The X-Scale developed here is invariant across countries and, therefore, allows for comparison among them.

The purpose of this study is to compare two different types of measures of social desirability bias (SDB), a short form of the Marlowe–Crowne measure, a popular direct measure, and an example of a projective technique where half of the respondents record the views of their “best friends”.

The data were collected using an online survey of members of a consumer panel. The context chosen to test the SDB measures was that of attitudes toward counterfeit products and xenocentrism in Colombia. Counterfeit proneness, attitude toward counterfeit products and consumer xenocentrism were selected as variables likely to be affected by SDB. Vertical and horizontal collectivism were included as variables likely to influence the first group of variables while not being themselves subject to SDB.

The projective technique consistently identified higher levels of SDB effects, as hypothesized. Marked differences emerged in the apparent strength of the relationships between the operational constructs depending upon which measure of SDB was used. At times, whether any such relationship might exist depended on the SDB measure used. Contrary to some prior work, no systematic gender effects were identified using either approach.

The first study to provide evidence of the comparative effects of different types of measures of SDB in research into ethical issues. One of the few to demonstrate how apparent relationships between variables can be created by SDB.

This paper aims to critique human personality as a theory underpinning brand personality and to propose instead a theory from human perception, and by doing so, to identify universally relevant dimensions.

A review of published measures of brand personality, a re-analysis of two existing data bases and the analysis of one new database are used to argue and test for the dimensions derived from perception theory.

Existing work on brand personality suggests 16 separate dimensions for the construct, but some appear common to most measures. When non-orthogonal rotation is used to re-analyse existing trait data on brand personality, three dimensions derived from signalling and associated theory can emerge: sincerity (e.g. warm, friendly and agreeable), competence (e.g. competent, effective and efficient) and status (e.g. prestigious, elegant and sophisticated). The first two are common to most measures, status is not.

Three dimensions derived from signalling and associated theory are proposed as generic, relevant to all contexts and cultures. They can be supplemented by context specific dimensions.

Measures of these three dimensions should be included in all measures of brand personality.

Prior work on brand personality has focussed on identifying apparently new dimensions for the construct. While most work is not theoretically based, some have argued for the relevance of human personality. That model is challenged, and an alternative approach to both theory and analysis is proposed and successfully tested.

This study introduces and investigates the concept of consumer pandemic animosity to (1) develop and validate a scale (i.e. CPAS) to measure consumer animosity in the context of a health pandemic; and (2) identify the effects of pandemic animosity on consumer purchase intentions in the field of general consumption and tourism.

The CPAS factor structure was initially tested on a sample of 201 American consumers based on participant interviews and expert evaluations. This exploratory phase identified two factors, namely CPAS emotions and beliefs, which were subsequently supported in the confirmatory factor analysis. Measurement and configural invariance of CPAS and discriminant and nomological validity were confirmed in an independent sample of 303 American consumers. A new sample of 203 Canadian consumers was used to test the external validity of CPAS by controlling for other types of consumer animosity dimensions. Structural equation modelling was used to test the effects of CPAS on consumer purchase intentions in general product consumption and tourism.

This study contributes to expanding on the conceptualization of the consumer animosity construct that has been dealt with in economics, politics, culture and religion but never of a pandemic health crisis to date. Results indicate the psychometric soundness of the CPAS and the multifaceted nature of this construct by clearly identifying two levels of animosity (i.e. beliefs and emotions). Moreover, the structural model shows a significant and unique impact of pandemic animosity on consumer purchase intentions and travel intentions.

This is the first empirical study proposing a new scale to measure the consumer disposition of animosity developed due to a pandemic affecting the world. It also offers a new dimension to the typology of animosity proposed by Jung et al. (2002): intentionality (intention-driven vs non-intention-driven). This paper presents a number of propositions that serve to identify testable hypotheses amenable both to validation and usefulness.

The overall aim of the present study is to advance research by drawing from this body of work and applying the brand personality construct, which has so far been considered mostly in connection with commercial product brands, in the context of nation branding. More specifically, and also more importantly, the study aims to contribute to research both in nation branding, as well as, indirectly, in the broader domain of brand personality in general, by being one of the first to examine the relationship between individual personality (IP) and nation brand personality (NBP) traits.

The study was conducted via a Web-based questionnaire in Arabic language to Saudi citizens living in Saudi Arabia. The study object was defined as the brand personality of the USA. To make possible the comparison between respondents’ personality and the US brand personality, the Big Five factors typology was used as a proxy (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism).

Results revealed a significant negative impact of the gaps between Saudi’s IP and the US brand personality (i.e. independent variables) upon their attitudes and intentions to behave toward the USA (dependent variables). Results also show that there are no moderating effects of previous visits paid to the USA and having relatives living there.

First, data were collected in only one country about perceptions of NBP traits of one other country. Thus, the results should not be generalized to other contexts until further research is done for a mix of both sample and target countries. This must include not only culturally dissimilar countries (as, in this case, Saudi views of the USA), but also countries that are classified as very close in their cultural distance index (i.e. view of the USA by Canadians or of Kuwaitis by Saudis). A second limitation is the proxy used to measure NBP. Future research may alternatively use an NBP scale developed explicitly for countries. Finally, the somewhat higher proportion of female respondents may be an issue to consider in future studies. In this study, the concern, if any, is largely ameliorated by the results, which showed virtually no significant differences between male and female average responses in relation to the Big Five (the only exception was observed with regards to conscientiousness, where males scored slightly lower than females). As was noted above, one may speculate as to potential reasons for the gender distribution in this study – but differences between samples and populations, not only in gender but in any sample characteristics, are quite common in research; therefore, any effort to achieve more balanced sample distributions will be well placed and received.

These results should encourage nation brand marketers to closely consider the predominant personality of their target markets, as well as the perceived personality of their own countries (image) when developing international marketing strategies. Such strategic focus should start by deciding what messages to send to the target audience to create in their minds the intended country’s identity by using the appropriate personality traits in communication applications. As this paper has demonstrated, international audiences holding similar personality types, especially in agreeableness, extraversion and conscientiousness, would feel attracted to perform positively towards the country’s offerings (i.e. tourism, investment, job opportunities, immigration, etc.).

In this first ever study to explore the relationship between an IP and NBP, a key finding is the confirmation of self-congruity theory.

The purpose of this paper is to test the cross-cultural validity of the Technology Readiness Index (TRI) (Parasuraman, 2000) and explore how demographics and attitudinal variables may help to explain adoption and use of technology-based products and services.

The study is based on surveys conducted with probabilistic samples from two culturally distant countries, the USA and Chile.

Results support the TRI’s cross-cultural validity. They also suggest that demographic variables do matter when explaining people’s willingness to adopt new technology, with education being the most consistent predictor. Moreover, some of the findings seem to challenge the attitude-behavior consistency implied by conventional theory – while attitudinal variables are better predictors of pro-technological behavior in the USA, with technology-related insecurity being the most important of four attitudinal dimensions included in the analysis, demographic variables perform as better predictors in Chile, with educational level outperforming age and gender.

This is the first-ever cross-cultural test of the TRI using actual consumer samples from two culturally very different countries.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the degree of market orientation of a sample of Chilean wine producers; to compare two different instruments for assessing market orientation in this context; and to comment on the possible cultural sensitivities of these two measurement instruments developed from a North American context but applied in culturally dissimilar contexts.

In total, 69 CEO and Marketing Managers, representing approximately one quarter of the total number of wineries in Chile, completed a face‐to‐face survey questionnaire that utilized both the Narver and Slater MKTOR and the Kohli and Jaworski MARKOR market orientation scales. SmartPLS was used to carry out the measurement and structural analysis.

Results reveal that more than half of surveyed Chilean wine producers are market oriented, with 65 per cent congruence between the two scales. Cluster analysis also reveals three distinct segments and sets of characteristics that distinguish market oriented from non‐market oriented wineries. MKTOR and MARKOR scales show similar level of predictive power when using subjective or perceptual measures of performance as dependent variables. However, the MARKOR scale is found to be better in explaining changes in the dependent variable when the latter is measured by actual sales and gross margins (objective performance). National cultural dimensions (power distance and uncertainty avoidance) have an impact within organizations in the implementation of a market‐oriented strategy in a consistent and coordinated manner.

The MARKOR scale appears to have superior predictive validity and to be more practical for measuring market orientation since it explains the change in dependent variables to greater degree when performance is measured with objective as opposed to the perceptual measures.

Chilean winery managers should devote significant attention to market sensing activities and competitive intelligence gathering. The competitive and national cultural environment plays an important role in moderating the relationship between market orientation and a firm's business performance. They may also wish to consider becoming involved in various trade organisations, as well as collaborative partnerships with academic institutions, to enhance their competitive intelligence and technological competences.

This paper is the first to illustrate the market orientation of Chilean wine producers, and one of only a few to discuss the impact of national cultural values on market orientation.

The paper's aim is to determine, by means of an extensive exploratory study and the metaphorical use of a molecule, the set of dimensions and facets that exist in people's minds in regards to a country brand, and at the same time to compare the results with the dimensions used by practitioner-led sources to measure the same construct.

A total of 532 graduate students living in 20 different countries freely reported the concepts they associate with different country names. The construction of the nation brand molecule was carried out in three steps: generating the inventory of all the associations made by participants in relation to country names; classifying the inventory; and mapping the molecule.

The nation brand molecule (NBM) which encompasses all the associated concepts that give shape to the overall molecule was developed. Seven dimensions, with their corresponding facets, were identified: economy, tourism, geography and nature, culture and heritage, society, science and technology, and government.

First, the sample was significantly biased towards graduate students. Second, the free elicitation process was requested mainly focused on nation brand personality, so there still may be some country facets not included in the NBM. Finally, this study does not have a hierarchy or relative weight of each of the molecule's dimensions.

The seven dimensions identified here match some of those used by private sources to measure country brand. However, this study uncovers two dimensions that are not considered by either of the private sources: geography and nature, and science and technology. This may demonstrate that what should be measured is not exactly what has been measured, and therefore indicates a potential content validity problem of the private measures currently in use.

This paper is the first to explore the dimensions comprising the nation brand construct at a multinational scope. Although practitioner-led indexes have been widely used for many country-branding projects, they only show what is being measured but not what should be measured in regards to the country brands, and therefore this paper fills the gap that exists in the current state-of-the-art.

Results of applying the 7-factor model of global attitude toward advertising to a sample of 373 Chilean students are presented and discussed. Three hypotheses, based on prior US studies, suggesting an inverse relationship between favorable attitude toward ad-vertising and experience with, knowledge of, and exposure to ad-vertising are tested. Empirical findings do not support these hypotheses. A factor analysis of the Chilean data resulted in a 9-factor solution in contrast with the 5-factor solution reported in the original test of the 7-factor theoretical model. Suggestions for further research are discussed.