International Marketing Review 13,5 76

A cross-national investigation of the effects of country of origin and brand name on the evaluation of a new car
Gerald Hubl
Faculty of Business, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Country-of-origin effects The impact of products country of origin on consumers purchase decisions has been an issue of increasing importance to marketing and consumer behaviour researchers, as well as to marketing managers. As more companies based in industrialized countries move the production of their goods to foreign locations, the way their brands are perceived by consumers changes (see e.g. Cordell, 1993; Tse and Gorn, 1993). Lower costs of labour, the reduction of transportation costs, and the achievement of global presence of the company have been the main reasons for such decisions. However, manufacturers have been paying little attention to the effects of a products new country of origin on consumers perception of its quality. Most published studies on country-of-origin effects found that country stereotypes do exist and that they have some impact on product evaluations and purchase decisions. Country-of-origin effects have been found to exist for products in general (Darling and Wood, 1990; Howard, 1989), for certain product categories (Cordell, 1992; Hong and Wyer, 1989, 1990; Roth and Romeo, 1992), and for specific brands (Chao, 1993; Han and Terpstra, 1988; Tse and Gorn, 1993; Witt, 1990). Country stereotypes have an impact on the purchasing behaviour both of individual consumers (see e.g. Lin and Sternquist, 1994) and organizations (see e.g. Chang and Kim, 1995). There have been a number of empirical studies on issues such as the effects of country of origin on products perceived quality (Hong and Wyer, 1989, 1990; Johansson and Thorelli, 1985) and on consumers propensity to use a products Made in label (Han and Terpstra, 1988; Johansson et al., 1985; Tse and Gorn, 1993). However, most of the work in this area has been descriptive rather than explanatory in nature (Obermiller and Spangenberg, 1989, p. 454). The vast majority of the empirical findings on country-of-origin effects indicate which countries, product categories, or consumer groups exhibit or possess which
The author is indebted to the Austrian Federal Research Fund (FWF) and Mercedes-Benz Corporation for supporting this research. He also wishes to express his thanks to Gnter Schweiger and Rick Bagozzi for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article, as well as to two anonymous IMR reviewers for their valuable suggestions.

International Marketing Review, Vol. 13 No. 5, 1996, pp. 76-97. MCB University Press, 0265-1335

stereotypical effects, while only a few studies have considered the antecedents of these effects. As a consequence of the globalization of business activities, there are an increasing number of products for which the country of origin is different from the initial home country of the brand. Such products may be referred to as binational or hybrid products (Chao, 1993; Ettenson and Gaeth, 1991). The study of consumers perception and evaluation of hybrid products is of key importance with respect to the advancement of our understanding of countryof-origin effects (Johansson, 1989, p. 56; Kochunny et al., 1993, p. 23). In spite of the vast number of empirical country-of-origin studies, little is known about the psychological structure of the effects of a products country of origin and brand name on the evaluation of and the purchase intention towards a product. In the present study, a structural equation modelling approach is used to test a hypothetical model containing relationships among psychological constructs including country image, brand image, the evaluation of the products functional characteristics and appearance, the attitude towards the product, and the behavioural intention with regard to the product. The structural equation modelling approach is in line with the suggestions for further country-of-origin research expressed by Han and Terpstra (1988, p. 252), Thorelli et al. (1989, p. 44), and Tse and Gorn (1993, p. 73). In order to study the structure of country-of-origin effects, a product had to be chosen in connection with which the occurrence of significant Made in effects could be expected. The findings of a number of empirical studies suggest that the country of origin generally has a significant impact on the evaluation of automobiles (see e.g. Han, 1989; Han and Terpstra, 1988; Johansson and Nebenzahl, 1987). Therefore, subcompact cars were chosen to be the product category used in this study. Cross-national theory testing Most consumer behaviour constructs and theories have been developed and tested exclusively in a single country, typically the USA. As a consequence, the extent to which theories, models, constructs, measures, and relationships among constructs are culturally bound is unknown in many cases (Durvasula et al., 1993). While the importance of examining the applicability of theories and models across countries and cultures has been expressed by many researchers (Hui and Triandis, 1985; Lee and Green, 1991), very few studies have actually addressed this issue. By contrast, a large number of researchers have assumed that models developed and tested in one country apply in other countries without actually validating model constructs and/or relationships among constructs (Durvasula et al., 1993, p. 626). This assumption can result in grossly invalid cross-national inferences. In order to be able to draw any conclusions regarding the cross-national generalizability of a theory or model, both the equivalence of the measurement of constructs and the equivalence of structural relationships must be established. The assessment of measurement equivalence includes an

Evaluation of a bi-national new car 77

International Marketing Review 13,5 78

examination of the psychometric properties of a constructs measures, such as internal consistency reliability, and of the invariance of the factor structure across countries (Mullen, 1995; Singh, 1995). Once the equivalence of the measurement of constructs across countries has been established, the crossnational invariance of the patterns and strengths of relationships among constructs may be assessed (Hui and Triandis, 1985). If a model turns out to be invariant across a number of countries, the hypothesis of the models crossnational generalizability is supported. The focus of the present study is on testing the cross-national applicability of a model of the effects of country of origin and brand name on consumers evaluations of a product. Specifically, the structure of country-of-origin and brand effects on the evaluation of a new automobile by German and French car owners is investigated. The proposed model is tested for invariance across the two countries in order to assess its cross-national applicability and, thus, its generalizability to other countries. Hypothetical model Constructs of the model To study the psychological process by which the country of origin and the brand name of a new automobile are integrated in the formation of attitude and related behavioural intention, a hypothetical structural model was developed. The model contains nine theoretical constructs. These constructs are considered to be latent psychological variables which cannot be measured directly and without error. Instead, each of them has to be measured indirectly through multiple indicators. The nine constructs of the hypothetical model may be grouped into the following three categories: evaluation of the country of origin; evaluation of the brand; and evaluation of the product. Recent research findings suggest that country of origin is a multidimensional construct (Parameswaran and Pisharodi, 1994; Pisharodi and Parameswaran, 1992). Studies on country-of-origin effects should incorporate not only the product-specific evaluation of but also the general attitude towards a particular country (Kochunny et al., 1993, p. 23; Martin and Eroglu, 1993, p. 192). General country attitude is considered to consist of two dimensions: affective and cognitive evaluation of the country (Han, 1988, p. 31; Papadopoulos et al., 1990, p. 46). With regard to the product-specific evaluation of a country, one can distinguish between the countrys general Made in image and the evaluation of products manufactured in that country (Etzel and Walker, 1974, p. 44; Halfhill, 1980, p. 28). In the hypothetical model the automobiles country of origin is represented by the following four constructs: (1) the affective evaluation of the country (feelings, emotions); (2) the cognitive evaluation of the country (fact based);

(3) the evaluation of the countrys automobile industry (production process); and (4) the evaluation of automobiles made in the country in general (production output, product). While the former two reflect the general perception of a country, the latter two refer to the evaluation of a country with regard to the specific product category under study. To study country-of-origin effects on consumers product evaluations and purchase decisions in a context which closely resembles real-world decisionmaking situations, respondents should be asked to evaluate products for which information on a number of salient attributes is available (Ettenson, 1993; Lin and Sternquist, 1994; Tse and Gorn, 1993). The importance of such multi-cue studies in the area of country-of-origin effects, especially of studies which incorporate a products brand name, has been pointed out by Witt and Rao (1992, pp. 123-4). In the hypothetical model, brand name information enters the model through a single construct, the image of the manufacturers brand. Four distinct aspects of the evaluation of the product are represented in the model. At the level of attribute beliefs, the evaluation of the overall appearance (design) of a car and the summary evaluation of its features (other than appearance) were incorporated as two separate constructs. In addition, the attitude towards the automobile, i.e. consumers overall evaluation of the model as well as their behavioural intention with regard to the automobile (further information acquisition, intended showroom visit, etc.) are represented as latent constructs in the model. Hypothetical structural relationships The hypothetical model (Figure 1) consists of the nine latent constructs described above and the expected relationships among them. Based on the theory of consumer information processing (Bettman, 1979; Ozanne et al., 1992; Stayman et al., 1992; Wright, 1975), attitude theory (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980; Bagozzi, 1989a; Eagly and Chaiken, 1993), and recent findings in the area of country-of-origin research (Han, 1989, 1990; Hong and Wyer, 1989, 1990; Kochunny et al., 1993; Maheswaran, 1994), 17 hypothesized relationships among the constructs were determined. The graphical representation of the model contains both the 17 hypothesized structural relationships among the nine constructs and the measurement models for these latent variables. In order to avoid cluttering, the arrows for errors in equations, as well as for measurement errors are not shown. The 17 structural paths of the model are depicted as arrows labelled 1 5 and 1 12 in Figure 1. Each of the hypothesized structural relationships is supported by the findings of published empirical research. Table I lists the references that were used in selecting each of the 17 paths which, as a whole, form the hypothetical model. Two of the nine constructs of the model, the affective evaluation of the country (1) and the image of the manufacturers brand (2), are exogenous

Evaluation of a bi-national new car 79

International Marketing Review 13,5 80

rt

ai ep ip sh tr l an ss lit e en km ce qu bi ia W or fre uc In R S no lg

rs -a nt he te -o f-t pe bl te om ia C R S

y1 + y3
t an ly fu l nd ce as

y2 + y4
ch -a

y 9 + y 10
ce or rd s st

y 11 + y 12

(y) 6

qu

-o

ra

l-t

te

W el

ta

(x) 1

(x) 2

ig

ra

pp

le

tt

ek

Affective 1 evaluation of country

1
e g iv ct ea lin

ot

iv

at

x1 + x3

x2 + x4

he

ed

(y) 1

(y) 2

oy

(y) 5

ea

le

ic

Fr

te

kf

rt

Cognitive evaluation of country

ity

an

or

da

ie

3 2

Evaluation of cars made in the country

f-t

in

al

y5 + y7

(y) 3

y6 + y8

(y) 4

2 3 2
(x) 3

y 14
(y) 7

y 13 + y 15

(y) 8

2 4

Evaluation of countrys car industry

io

4 5

Evaluation of the models appearance

8 6 10 11 11
(y)

5
Attitude towards the model

9 12 7 Behavioural intention
(y) 13

Brand image

7
(x) 4

x5 + x7
y n et io bi af ct ia fe S

x6 + x8
y y Q

Evaluation of 5 the models features

12

(y)

14

(y)

y 20 + y 22
y rs lit ai bi ep an ia

y 21 + y 23
ip ity sh al qu rm

y 24 + y 26
n e riv io at td p

y 25 + y 27
vi rc ha se si t

bl

ab

ira

le

ur

xc

es

vo

Path

References Han, 1988; Jaffe and Nebenzahl, 1993 Cohen and Basu, 1987; Kochunny et al., 1993; Ozanne et al., 1992; Stayman et al., 1992 Jacoby et al., 1971; Wright, 1975; Monroe, 1986; Jacoby et al., 1993 Jacoby et al., 1971; Wright, 1975; Monroe, 1976; Jacoby et al., 1977; Jan and Qualls, 1985 Jacoby et al., 1971; Wright, 1975; Monroe, 1976; Jacoby et al., 1977; Jan and Qualls, 1985 Etzel and Walker, 1974; Halfhill, 1980; Pisharodi and Parameswaran, 1992 Papadopoulos et al., 1988; Pisharodi and Parameswaran, 1992; Jaffe and Nebenzahl, 1993 Hong and Wyer, 1989; Hong and Wyer, 1990 Erickson et al., 1984; Johansson et al., 1985; Hong and Wyer, 1989; Hong and Wyer, 1990; Maheswaram, 1994 Hong and Wyer, 1989; Yi, 1991, Hong and Yi, 1992; Lee et al., 1992; Maheswaran, 1994 Han, 1989; Han, 1990; Yi, 1991; Lee et al., 1992; Kochunny et al., 1993; Maheswaran, 1994 Scott and English, 1989 Bagozzi, 1989a Johansson and Nebenzahl, 1987 Bagozzi, 1989a Johansson and Nebenzahl, 1987 Johansson and Nebenzahl, 1987; Bagozzi, 1989b; Han, 1990; Yi, 1991

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6
Table I. References used in selecting the hypothesized relationships

7 8 9 10 11 12

variables. All other latent variables are endogenous. The seven endogenous constructs are denoted 1 7 Figure 1. Each construct is connected to two observable indicators which serve as measures of the former. Measurement issues, such as the selection of indicators and their treatment within the measurement models, are discussed in more detail in the method and results sections.

Fa

le

as

el

in

Figure 1. Hypothetical model

R el

(y) 9

10

er

ua

(y)

lit

lit

Te s

tr

el

km

hi

fo

en

W or

ea

er

fre

In

le

nt

Fu

rth

y 16 + y 18

y 17 + y 19

er

in

le

rs

qu

up

is

pu

up

ta

el

el

er

qu

fu

al

ity

Based on the assumption that the more general constructs affect the more specific, product-related ones[1], the direction of the hypothesized effects among the country-of-origin variables is from the affective evaluation of the country to the cognitive evaluation of the country, from that to the evaluation of the countrys automobile industry, and from that to the evaluation of automobiles made in the country in general. In terms of the relationships between the four constructs representing the evaluation of the product, the evaluation of the automobiles appearance was expected to have an influence on the evaluation of its features[2]. Based on the belief attitude behavioural intention model of attitude (see e.g. Bagozzi, 1989a), both of these latent variables were hypothesized to affect the attitude towards the car. Method Design of the study A subcompact automobile developed by German car manufacturer MercedesBenz was used in the study. The concept of the new model named MercedesBenz Vision A was introduced to the public at the Frankfurt Motor Show in August 1993, shortly before the study was carried out. At that time, the manufacturer announced that the new automobile would be for sale in 1997. The company did not, however, comment on where, i.e. in which country, it planned to manufacture the Vision A. In order to test the hypothetical model of the effects of a new automobiles country of origin and brand name on consumers relevant attitudes in connection with the vehicle, a cross-national study based on face-to-face interviews was conducted in Germany and France. Germany, the home country of Mercedes-Benz, represents the single most important market for the company. France was chosen as the country of comparison because it is one of the largest foreign markets for Mercedes-Benz. For the purpose of the study, the Czech Republic was selected as the country of production of the Vision A. When the interviews were conducted, Mercedes was seriously considering to locate the plant for the new car in the Czech Republic. Respondents both in Germany and in France were led to believe that the company had recently decided to manufacture the new car in the Czech Republic. At the time of the study, the wages of Czech skilled workers amounted to less than 10 per cent of those of their German counterparts. Since the Czech Republic borders with Germany, it also represents an attractive manufacturing location for German companies from a logistics perspective. In the course of the face-to-face interview, each subject was presented with a one-page description of the automobile. This stimulus consisted of a photograph of a Vision A prototype, as well as a verbal description of the key features of the model[3]. The selection of key attributes was based on the results of a joint focus-group session of automotive market research specialists from both Germany and France, as well as on pilot studies conducted in both countries aimed at determining attribute importance with respect to subcompact automobiles. The following features of the car were included: fuel

Evaluation of a bi-national new car 81

International Marketing Review 13,5 82

mileage, built-in safety equipment, i.e. air bags and anti-lock brakes, horsepower, and high speed. The true attribute levels which the Vision A will actually have when introduced to the market were provided both in Germany and France. To ensure that the brand name (Mercedes-Benz) and the country-of-origin information (Czech Republic) were noticed by respondents, each was presented as an item of information embedded among the product attributes and as an insert in the photograph of the automobile. In addition, 1997 was stated to be the year in which the manufacturer planned the introduction of the new car to the market. Finally, a side-view silhouette of the Vision A was printed next to those of three popular European automobiles, in order to provide some information on the approximate length and height of the concept car. Both in the German and the French product description, silhouettes of the VW Golf, the Renault Twingo, and the Mercedes E series were included next to that of the Vision A. At the time of the study, the German-made VW Golf and the French-made Renault Twingo were the subcompact cars with the highest market share in Germany and France, respectively (see VDA, 1994). Thus, it was reasonable to assume that the majority of respondents in either country were familiar with at least one of these vehicles. The silhouette of the Mercedes E was included to provide the size of the most popular Mercedes model as a reference. The silhouettes were labelled Mercedes Vision A; VW Golf, Renault Twingo, and Mercedes E series. No other information about these three cars was provided. Sample Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 309 car owners in Germany and 313 car owners in France[4]. In order to qualify, an individual had to be the owner of a passenger automobile at the time of the interview[5]. Car owners typically have at least moderately high product familiarity with respect to automobiles. Quotas were established for the selection of the subjects. Interviews were conducted with car owners in different age, income, and gender groups, as well as in all major regions of both Germany and France. For the purpose of performing cross-national comparisons of the results obtained in the two countries, it was necessary that the German and the French sample should be of similar size and equal demographic structure. The same quotas for the selection of respondents were used in Germany and in France. They were established on the following criteria, which roughly reflect the importance of different market segments for the car used in the study: Age (20 per cent under 30 years of age, 30 per cent from 31 to 35 years of age, 25 per cent from 36 to 40 years of age, 25 per cent over 40 years of age), gender (70 per cent male, 30 per cent female), and car ownership (30 per cent Mercedes-Benz, 70 per cent other brands[6]). These criteria were based on the profiles of subcompact car buyers in the two countries (EAS, 1994). The only exception to this is the 30 per cent share of Mercedes owners in the sample, which overstates the

importance of this group in terms of past sales. This was necessary, however, in order to obtain a sufficient number of responses from current Mercedes owners, a prime target group for the Vision A with respect to second-vehicle purchases. One additional criterion used for the selection of subjects was their place of residence. Interviews were conducted in all main regions of Germany and France in proportion to the number of cars registered in each of them. Table II provides an overview of the quotas used in selecting the respondents. In addition, it shows the actual structure of the two samples. For both samples, all quotas were met with only insignificant deviations. None of the differences between the German and the French sample with respect to age, gender, or car ownership are statistically significant at the 0.05 level. This indicates that the two samples are equal in demographic structure to the extent that this was controlled by the quotas.

Evaluation of a bi-national new car 83

Sample Criterion Age Quotas 20 per cent under 30 30 per cent 31 to 35 25 per cent 36 to 40 25 per cent over 40 70 per cent male 30 per cent female 30 per cent Mercedes 70 per cent other brands Germany (%) 19.4 29.4 25.2 26.0 68.8 31.2 30.2 69.8 France (%) 22.3 29.4 27.5 20.8 69.0 31.0 31.0 69.0

Gender Car ownership

Table II. Structure of the German and French sample

Measures The questionnaire contained multiple measures of all nine latent variables of the model. The selection of these indicators was based on an extensive literature review. All measures used in the present study had already been by used and found to be valid and reliable indicators of the corresponding constructs in one or more previous studies. The main sources used in this selection process were Parameswaran and Yaprak (1987) and Martin and Eroglu (1993) for items measuring the general evaluation of the country of origin, Pisharodi and Parameswaran (1992) and Jaffe and Nebenzahl (1993) for the evaluation of countries in connection with automobiles, McGee and Spiro (1991) and Gupta and Ratchford (1992) for brand image, and Scott and English (1989), Bayus (1991), Gupta and Ratchford (1992), and Chaiken and Maheswaram (1994) for the evaluation of the vehicle. Three measures were obtained for the evaluation of the appearance of the new automobile, while four questionnaire items were used to measure each of the other eight constructs of the model. The evaluation of cars made in the

International Marketing Review 13,5 84

country in general and the overall evaluation of the vehicle used in the study were measured on the same four attributes. For all of these directly observed variables, ratings were obtained on a six-point scale ranging from 1 = does not apply at all to 6 = fully applies. A list of the indicators used to measure the nine constructs is provided in the Appendix. For the estimation of the models, pairs of observed measures were combined additively within constructs to form indices which, in turn, were treated as the indicators of the latent variables in the model. Within each construct, the measures were grouped into pairs at random. For each of the eight constructs represented by four questionnaire items, pairs of these observed variables were combined additively to form two new indicators. Since only three measures were obtained for the construct 4(evaluation of the cars appearance), one of these items (y14) was not combined with any other measure and remained an indicator of its own. The other two observed variables were summed to form the second indicator for that construct. The same pattern of aggregation was used for the German and the French sample. The strategy of summing subsets of the observed measures of a construct called partial disaggregation has been found to improve the fit of multiple-indicator measurement models (Bagozzi and Heatherton, 1994; Hull et al., 1991) and should, therefore, increase the reliability of the estimates of structural parameters between constructs. Combining items into indices tends to smooth out random error to the degree that the aggregated measures share common variance (Bagozzi and Heatherton, 1994, p. 39). Model estimation A structural equation modelling approach (Bagozzi, 1994; Bentler and Dudgeon, 1996; Bollen, 1989) was used to test the hypothetical structural model against the data collected from the samples of German and French car owners. Specifically, single-group and multi-group analyses using the data from both samples simultaneously were performed in LISREL 8 (Jreskog and Srbom, 1993). Covariance matrices of the observed variables were used as data matrices. The maximum-likelihood (ML) method was selected as the method of model estimation. Analysis and results National-level analysis The proposed model was first estimated independently for the German and the French sample. Since the analysis of the relationships among latent variables requires adequate measurement of these constructs, the psychometric properties of the measures of the nine latent variables of the model were first examined via maximum-likelihood confirmatory factor analysis. The results of the estimation of these models indicate that the constructs were measured adequately through their indicators in both countries. All factor loadings are highly significant (p < 0.001). Their standardized estimates range from 0.86 to 0.987 in Germany and from 0.74 to 0.981 in France. The values of the comparative fit index (CFI, see Bentler, 1990) and of the Tucker and Lewis

(1973) index (TLI)[7] for the confirmatory factor analysis models are, respectively, 0.99 and 0.989 for the German and 0.975 and 0.972 for the French sample, indicating a very good fit of the measurement models. Also, the internal consistency reliability (Carmines and Zeller, 1979) of the measures of the latent constructs ranges from 0.821 to 0.977, which is more than satisfactory (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988, p. 82) and provides further evidence of the fact that the models constructs were measured with little error. Tests of the discriminant validity of the nine constructs were also performed via confirmatory factor analysis. Specifically, models representing different factor structures (fewer latent constructs) were estimated. For both Germany and France, the fit of all of these alternative models was clearly inferior to that of the nine-factor model which corresponds to the proposed factor structure. This indicates that the nine latent variables of the model do represent distinct constructs. Finally, discriminant validity was also supported by the fact that the confidence intervals ( p < 0.05) around the estimates of the interfactor correlations do not contain a value of 1 (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). Once the satisfactory quality of measurement with respect to the models latent variables had been determined, the full structural model containing both the measurement models and the hypothesized structural relationships was estimated separately for each of the samples. The overall fit of the hypothetical model was good. For the data collected in Germany, a chi-square ( 2) value of 133.868 (d = 117, p = 0.136) was obtained[8]. The models 2 value in connection with the French sample is 202.388 (d = 117, p = 0.000002)[9]. CFI values of 0.997 and 0.978 were obtained for the German and the French data, respectively. The TLI values are 0.996 (Germany) and 0.972 (France). These measures indicate a good fit of the model[10]. The unstandardized estimates of the structural parameters resulting from the separate estimation of the model for Germany and France are provided in Table III along with their t values. The t value is equal to the ratio between a parameter estimate and its standard error (Jreskog and Srbom, 1993). If the t value exceeds 1.96, the corresponding parameter is significant at the 0.05 level. The majority of path coefficients are statistically significant (p < 0.05) for both samples. Four parameter estimates are not significant in either country (2, 3, 5 , and 6 ). In addition, the estimate of 12 , pertaining to the path from consumers overall evaluation of the car to their behavioural intention with respect to the vehicle, is insignificant in Germany. For each structural path, the parameter estimates obtained from the German and the French data are very similar (see Table III). In addition, the pattern of significant and insignificant structural parameters is identical in the two samples with the exception of 12 . This indicates that the psychological processes underlying the effects of country of origin and brand name on consumers evaluations of an automobile might not be nationally bound. In order to determine whether the empirical data support the hypothesis that the model is truly invariant across the two countries, a series of formal tests

Evaluation of a bi-national new car 85

International Marketing Review 13,5

Parameter

Germany Estimate

t - value

Sample France Estimate 0.727 0.128* 0.061* 0.276 0.190 0.729 0.824 0.168 0.227 0.054* 0.006* 0.469 0.124 0.270 0.405 0.166 0.230

t - value 9.548 1.873 1.076 4.717 3.173 9.471 10.077 2.505 4.033 0.493 0.051 7.481 2.065 4.312 4.981 2.097 3.440

1 0.694 10.299 2 0.093* 1.470 3 0.103* 1.782 86 4 0.328 6.133 5 0.164 2.858 1 0.657 9.962 2 0.838 11.568 3 0.250 3.800 4 0.358 6.480 5 0.098* 0.907 6 0.058* 0.561 7 0.324 6.045 8 0.238 4.104 9 0.454 7.457 Table III. 10 0.397 5.313 National-level structural 11 0.286 4.551 parameter estimates for 0.100* 1.730 the German and French 12 sample Note: * Parameter estimates not significant at the 0.05 level

involving the simultaneous analysis of the German and French data had to be performed. Multi-group analysis The national-level analysis assessed whether the measures of the models constructs were psychometrically sound and whether the hypothesized relationships among the constructs applied in each country separately. A more stringent test of the model is now offered by assessing the invariance of the measurement and structural model relationships across countries. For this purpose, a number of LISREL multi-group analyses (see Jreskog and Srbom, 1993, pp. 51-84) with parameters of interest either constrained to be equal across groups or free to vary across groups were performed. In order to examine the invariance of the measurement models in Germany and France, two multi-group confirmatory factor analysis models were estimated. In the first one, all measurement parameters (factor loadings) were constrained to be equal in both groups. For this model a 2 value of 242.558 (d = 204, p = 0.0334), a CFI of 0.996, and a TLI of 0.994 were obtained. In the second model, the factor loadings were allowed to vary between groups. This less constrained model has a 2 value of 226.778 (df = 195, p = 0.0591), a CFI of 0.996, and a TLI of 0.994. A chi-square difference test may be used to assess whether the improvement in model fit due to relaxing between-groups equality constraints of certain parameters is statistically significant. The 2 difference between the two multi-group confirmatory factor analysis models of 15.78

(dfdiff = 9) is not significant at the 0.05 level. Since allowing the measurement parameters to vary across groups does not improve the fit of the model, the factor structure can be considered invariant across the two countries. The common measurement parameter estimates (unstandardized) for the German and the French sample are provided in Table IV. Since the scale of the latent variables was determined by fixing one of their measurement relationships to a value of one, only one measurement parameter was estimated per construct.
Parameter Estimate 1.000 0.843 1.000 0.933 1.000 1.008 1.000 1.009 1.000 0.964 1.000 2.051 1.000 1.013 1.000 1.155 1.000 1.010 t-value 25.230 14.998 28.798 38.786 34.905 35.208 28.544 24.696 23.900

Evaluation of a bi-national new car 87

1(x) 2(x) 3(x) 4(x) 1(y) 2(y) 3(y) 4(y) 5(y) 6(y) 7(y) 8(y) 9(y) 10(y) 11(y) 12(y) 13(y) 14(y)

Table IV. Common measurement parameter estimates for the German and French sample

For examining the invariance of the relationships among the latent variables, one model with all structural parameters constrained to be equal in both groups and another model in which these parameters were allowed to vary across samples were estimated via the maximum-likelihood method. Since we had established the invariance of the factor structure across countries, the measurement parameters were constrained to be equal across groups in both of these models. The estimation of the model in which all structural paths were constrained to be equal in both groups resulted in a 2 value of 351.276 (d = 257, p = 0.00008), a CFI of 0.989, and a TLI of 0.987. The model in which the structural parameters were allowed to vary between groups yielded a 2 value of 326.19 (df = 240, p = 0.0002), a CFI of 0.99, and a TLI of 0.988. The 2 difference between the two multi-group models of 25.086 (dfdiff = 17) is not significant at the 0.05 level. Allowing the structural parameters to vary across groups does not improve the fit of the model. This indicates that the model relationships are invariant across countries. The common structural parameter estimates (unstandardized) for the German and French sample are provided in Table V.

1 0.645 2 0.076 3 0.087 4 0.361 88 5 0.253 1 0.702 2 0.826 3 0.133 4 0.239 5 0.037* 6 0.037* 7 0.497 8 0.266 9 0.695 Table V. 10 0.456 Common structural 11 0.343 parameter estimates for 12 0.213 the German and French sample Note: * Parameter estimates not significant at the 0.05 level

International Marketing Review 13,5

Parameter

Estimate

t-value 17.560 2.679 2.115 7.240 4.241 17.985 25.960 4.336 7.771 0.505 0.518 10.530 4.434 8.797 7.606 4.772 3.754

Since both the factor structure and the structural model relationships were found to be invariant across countries, the discussion of the substantive findings of the study should focus on the common parameter estimates, specifically the common estimates of the structural relationships (see Table V). The expected sequence of effects among the four constructs representing the cars country of origin, i.e. from the affective to the cognitive evaluation of the country, from that to the evaluation of the countrys automobile industry, and from that to the evaluation of cars made in the country in general (1 = 0.645, 1 = 0.702, and 2= 0.826, respectively), was found to be strong and highly significant. The country of origin turned out to affect the evaluation of the automobile in various ways. The affective evaluation of the country has an impact on the perception of the vehicles appearance (2 = 0.076). The evaluation of the countrys automobile industry affects the evaluation both of the models appearance (3 = 0.133) and of its features (4 = 0.239). The image of the manufacturers brand was found to have a strong impact on the evaluation of the automobiles features (4 = 0.361) and on the attitude towards the vehicle (5 = 0.253), as well as a somewhat weaker impact on the evaluation of the new models appearance (3 = 0.087). The hypothetical structural path from the perception of the new cars appearance to the evaluation of its other features was found to be very strong (7 = 0.497). The evaluation of the cars appearance also turned out to have an impact both on the attitude towards the new model (8 = 0.266) and on the

behavioural intention with regard to the vehicle (9 = 0.695). It is interesting to note that the direct effect of the perception of the cars appearance on behavioural intention ( 9) is more than twice as strong as its effect on the attitude towards the vehicle (8). The evaluation of the models features affects both the attitude towards the car (10 = 0.456) and the behavioural intention (11 = 0.343) to a large extent. Finally, the attitude towards the vehicle affects behavioural intention (12= 0.213). Our findings provide support for the belief attitude behavioural intention hypothesis (Bagozzi, 1989a). At the same time, we find evidence for a direct belief behavioural intention link as indicated by the significant estimates for parameters 9 and 11. Overall, the results of the study indicate that consumers attitudes and behavioural intentions with respect to a new automobile are influenced significantly both by the brand name and the country of origin. The effect of brand name on the attitude towards the vehicle is composed of a direct and two indirect routes. Of the latter, the indirect effect mediated by the evaluation of the automobiles features turned out to be stronger than the one mediated by the perception of its appearance. The effect of the country of origin on the attitude towards the car is predominantly indirect. It is mediated by the evaluation of both the vehicles appearance and its other features. The behavioural intention with regard to the new automobile is affected significantly by the evaluation of both its appearance and its other features, as well as by the attitude towards the vehicle. Interestingly, the attitude towards the car turned out not to be the main antecedent of behavioural intention. Instead, the direct effect of the perception of the cars appearance on intention is stronger than that of the attitude towards the vehicle. This finding has profound implications for the development of new automobiles which will be discussed among other things in the following section. Discussion The purpose of the present study was to examine the cross-national applicability of a model of the psychological structure of the effects of country of origin and brand name on consumers evaluations of a new automobile. A model that describes the process by which these two pieces of product information are incorporated in the formation of attitude and behavioural intention with respect to a car was proposed. In order to test whether the hypothetical model applies in different countries, data were collected in face-toface interviews of 309 German and 313 French car owners. Mercedes-Benzs concept car Vision A was used in the study. The Czech Republic was presented as the vehicles country of production. The results of the national-level analysis indicate that the hypothetical model closely resembles the mental process by which the country-of-origin and brand name information influence consumers evaluation of a new automobile in Germany as well as in France. Both the psychometric properties of the measures of the models constructs and the structural relationships among the constructs were found to be highly similar across the two countries. The cross-

Evaluation of a bi-national new car 89

International Marketing Review 13,5 90

national applicability of the model was tested by means of multi-group analysis. Both the measurement of the constructs and the structural relationships in the model turned out to be invariant across the two countries. This finding provides support for the hypothesis of the models cross-national generalizability. As a result of the invariance of the measurement relationships and the structural paths, the substantive findings of the study were discussed at the cross-national rather than at the national level. Both the brand name and the country of origin were found to have a significant impact on consumers attitudes towards the new automobile. While the effect of brand name on the attitude towards the car turned out to be composed of a direct route, as well as two indirect routes, the country-of-origin effect was found to be predominantly indirect. The impact of the country of origin on the overall evaluation of the automobile was mediated by the evaluation of the cars appearance and that of its other features to a large extent. This indicates that the Made in information typically affects beliefs about a cars product attributes, which in turn affect the attitude and the behavioural intention with respect to the vehicle. Thus, foreign production of automobiles is likely to have an impact not only on car buyers overall evaluation of a vehicle, but also on their perception of specific product attributes, e.g. various technical features or the appearance of the car. One of the most fundamental concerns of marketers in many industries is the uncertainty about the future adoption of new products by consumers. With respect to the actual product, what can be done at the development stage in order to induce the trial and adoption of a new product? What characteristics of the new product determine its success in the marketplace? One finding of this study should have profound implications for the development of new products, in particular, new automobiles. The behavioural intention construct of our model represents mental states including customers motivation to acquire further information about the automobile, to look at the vehicle at a dealers showroom, and to test-drive the new car. It had been expected that, according to the belief attitude behavioural intention model of attitude, most of the antecedents effects on the behavioural intention with respect to the car would be channelled through the attitude construct. By contrast, the behavioural intention with regard to the new automobile was found to be affected directly by the evaluation of the vehicles appearance to a large extent. This direct effect of consumers perception of the cars appearance on intention bypasses the attitude construct. Thus, while the appearance of a new product may not affect the attitude towards the product to a large extent, it can have a strong direct impact on the new products adoption by consumers. This finding has implications not only for the actual development of new products, but also for new-product market research, product concept testing, and premarket forecasting. Studies aimed at predicting the adoption and future success of new products should include evaluative measures as closely related to the actual behaviour (information acquisition, intended showroom visit, trial, etc.) as possible in order to capture effects such as the direct influence of a cars appearance on behavioural intention found in this study.

As more car manufacturers based in industrialized nations consider moving the production of their vehicles to low-wage countries which typically have rather unfavourable Made in images, the finding that an automobiles country of origin has a significant impact on consumers perception of the various features of an automobile and on their evaluation of the car as a whole even in connection with a very strong brand name should encourage companies to investigate thoroughly consumers perceptions of the relevant countries and their car industries, as well as consumers evaluation of the manufacturers models when associated with the potential countries of origin before making a decision on the location of a production facility. The generalizability of this studys findings may be limited owing to the fact that only one automobile by a German manufacturer was used. Also, only one country of origin, the Czech Republic, was used. Future research could extend this work by testing the proposed model in connection with other manufacturers cars and other countries of origin. This would also provide an opportunity to test for brand by country interaction effects. A longer-term extension of this area of research would be to test the model for other highinvolvement product categories.
Notes 1. This does not take into account the possibility of reverse effects from the more specific to the more general constructs (e.g. the impact of automobiles on the image of the cars country of origin). However, the magnitude of such reciprocal effects can be expected to be insignificant compared with that of the proposed relationships. 2. A rationale similar to that discussed in Note 1 applies here. While reciprocal effects between the two constructs are quite plausible, we hypothesize that, for a totally new automobile, the influence of the cars appearance on the perception of its other features dominates the reverse effect. 3. Of course, both the product descriptions and the questionnaires were in German and French for the respondents in Germany and France, respectively. To ensure the equivalence of the survey instruments, a standard procedure of back-translation (Brislin, 1970; Harpaz, 1996) was used. The product description and questionnaire had been translated from English into German as well as French and subsequently translated back into English from both other languages by independent professional translators. 4. All face-to-face interviews were conducted by native German and French interviewers who were recruited and co-ordinated by a multinational market research firm. The latter was also responsible for the selection of subjects based on the quotas specified by the author. The interviewers called the selected individuals to set up an appointment for the interview. All interviews were conducted at respondents homes. 5. It would have been desirable to draw samples consisting exclusively of individuals who were in the market for a new subcompact car at the time of the interview. However, this would have been extremely difficult, especially if one wished to maintain the same standards of demographic composition, have matching samples in two countries, and collect data from individuals in all major regions of the two countries. 6. Ownership of one of the 12 automobile models with the largest market shares in Germany and France, respectively, was used as the criterion for the selection of 70 per cent of the subjects. The number of owners of each of the 12 models was proportionate to market share. 7. The TLI is equivalent to Bentler and Bonetts (1980) non-normed fit index (NNFI).

Evaluation of a bi-national new car 91

International Marketing Review 13,5 92

8. An insignificant chi-square value indicates that an observed covariance matrix deviates only insignificantly from the covariance matrix implied by the model. 9. An insignificant 2 clearly provides the strongest support for a model in a LISREL analysis. However, it has been pointed out in the literature that, if the sample size is large enough, the chi-square test statistics excessive power results in a rejection of almost any model, even if the discrepancy between the estimated model and the empirical data is very small (see e.g. Hu and Bentler, 1995, p. 81). As a result, other fit indices, such as CFI and TLI, have been developed which represent measures of the degree of correspondence between model and data rather than a significance test and which are independent of sample size. The 2, CFI, and TLI are used jointly to evaluate model fit in this study. High CFI and TLI values (> 0.95) in combination with a significant 2 are considered to indicate that a model, while not perfect, fits the data well. 10. In addition to the hypothetical model, a number of competing models were estimated. Some of these alternative models were more constrained than the hypothetical model (e.g. the null model), others were less constrained (e.g. the full model). A series of chi-square difference tests were conducted in order to assess the fit of these models relative to each other. The hypothetical model turned out to be the best-fitting model for both the German and the French data. References Ajzen, I. and Fishbein, M. (1980), Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behaviour, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Anderson, J.C. and Gerbing, D.W. (1988), Structural equation modeling in practice: a review and recommended two-step approach, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 103 No. 3, pp. 411-23. Bagozzi, R.P. (1989a), An investigation of the role of affective and moral evaluations in the purposeful behaviour model of attitude, British Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 28, pp. 97113. Bagozzi, R.P. (1989b), An investigation into the role of intentions as mediators of the attitudebehavior relationship, Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol. 10. pp. 35-62. Bagozzi, R.P. (1994), Structural equation models in marketing research: basic principles, in Bagozzi, R.P. (Ed.), Principles of Marketing Research, Blackwell, Cambridge, MA. Bagozzi, R.P. and Heatherton, T.F. (1994), A general approach to representing multifaceted personality constructs: application to state self-esteem, Structural Equation Modeling, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 35-67. Bagozzi, R.P. and Yi, Y. (1988), On the evaluation of structural equation models, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 74-94. Bayus, B.L. (1991), The consumer durable replacement buyer, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 55, January 1991, pp. 42-51. Bentler, P.M. (1990), Comparative fit indexes in structural models, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 107 No. 2, pp. 238-46. Bentler, P.M. and Bonett, D.G. (1980), Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 88 No. 3, pp. 588-606. Bentler, P.M. and Dudgeon, P. (1996), Covariance structure analysis: statistical practice, theory, and directions, Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 47, pp. 563-92. Bettman, J.R. (1979), An Information Processing Theory of Consumer Choice, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA. Bollen, K.A. (1989), Structural Equations with Latent Variables, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY. Brislin, R.W. (1970), Back translation for cross-cultural research, Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, Vol. 1, pp. 185-216.

Carmines, E.G. and Zeller, R.A. (1979), Reliability and Validity Assessment, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA. Chaiken, S. and Maheswaram, D. (1994), Heuristic processing can bias systematic processing: effects of source credibility, argument ambiguity, and task importance on attitude judgment, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 66 No. 3, pp. 460-73. Chang, D.R. and Kim, I-T. (1995), A study on the rating of import sources for industrial products in a newly industrializing country: the case of South Korea, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 32, pp. 31-9. Chao, P. (1993), Partitioning country of origin effects: consumer evaluations of a hybrid product, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 24 No. 2, pp. 291-306. Cohen, J.B. and Basu, K. (1987), Alternative models of categorization: toward a contingent processing framework, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 13, pp. 455-72. Cordell, V.V. (1992), Effects of consumer preferences for foreign sourced products, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 251-69. Cordell, V.V. (1993), Interaction effects of country of origin with branding, price, and perceived performance risk, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 5-20. Darling, J.R. and Wood, V.R. (1990), A longitudinal study comparing perceptions of US and Japanese consumer products in a third neutral country: Finland 1975 to 1985, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 3, pp. 427-50. Durvasula, S., Andrews, J.C., Lysonski, S. and Netemeyer, R.G. (1993), Assessing the crossnational applicability of consumer behavior models: a model of attitude toward advertising in general, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 19, pp. 626-36. Eagly, A.H. and Chaiken, S. (1993), The Psychology of Attitudes, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Fort Worth, TX. EAS (1994), European Automobile Statistics Autofahren in Europa, Motor Presse Stuttgart, Stuttgart. Erickson, G.M., Johansson, J.K. and Chao, P. (1984), Image variables in multi-attribute product evaluations: country-of-origin effects, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 11, September, pp. 694-9. Ettenson, R. (1993), Brand name and country of origin effects in the emerging market economies of Russia, Poland and Hungary, International Marketing Review, Vol. 10 No. 5, pp. 14-36. Ettenson, R. and Gaeth, G. (1991), Consumer perceptions of hybrid (bi-national) products, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 13-18. Etzel, M.J. and Walker, B.J. (1974), Advertising strategy for foreign products, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 41-4. Gupta, P. and Ratchford, B.T. (1992), Estimating the efficiency of consumer choices of new automobiles, Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol. 13, pp. 375-97. Hair, J.F., Anderson, R.E., Tatham, R.L. and Black, W.C. (1992), Multivariate Data Analysis, 3rd ed., Macmillan, New York, NY. Han, C.M. (1988), The role of consumer patriotism in the choice of domestic versus foreign products, Journal of Advertising Research, June/July 1988, pp. 25-32. Han, C.M. (1989), Country image: halo or summary construct?, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 26, May, pp. 222-9. Han, C.M. (1990), Testing the role of country image in consumer choice behaviour, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 24 No. 6, pp. 24-40. Han, C.M. and Qualls, W.J. (1985), Country-of-origin effects and their impact on consumers perception of quality, in Tan, C.T. and Sheth, J.N. (Eds), Historic Perspectives in Consumer Research: National and International Perspectives, Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT. Han, C.M. and Terpstra, V. (1988), Country-of-origin effects for uni-national and bi-national products, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 19, Summer 1988, pp. 235-56. Harpaz, I. (1996), International management survey research, in Punnett, B.J. and Shenkar, O. (Eds), Handbook for International Management Research, Blackwell, Cambridge, MA.

Evaluation of a bi-national new car 93

International Marketing Review 13,5 94

Hong, S.-T. and Wyer, R.S. Jr (1989), Effects of country-of-origin and product-attribute information on product evaluation: an information processing perspective, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 16, pp. 175-87. Hong, S.-T. and Wyer, R.S. Jr (1990), Determinants of product evaluation: effects of the time interval between knowledge of a products country-of-origin and information about its specific attributes, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 17, December, pp. 277-88. Hong, S.-T. and Yi, Y. (1992), A cross-national comparison of country-of-origin effects on product evaluations, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 49-71. Howard, D.G. (1989), Understanding how American consumers formulate their attitudes about foreign products, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 7-24. Hu, L.-T. and Bentler, P.M. (1995), Evaluating model fit, in Hoyle, R.H. (Ed.), Structural Equation Modeling: Concepts, Issues, and Applications, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Hui, C.H. and Triandis, H.C. (1985), Measurement in cross-cultural psychology: a review and comparison of strategies, Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, Vol. 16, pp. 131-52. Hull, J.G., Lehn, D.A. and Tedlie, J.C. (1991), A general approach to testing multifaceted personality constructs, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 61, pp. 932-45. Jacoby, J., Olson, J.C. and Haddock, R.A. (1971), Price, brand name, and product composition characteristics as determinants of perceived quality, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 55, pp. 570-79. Jacoby, J., Szybillo, G.J. and Busato-Schach, J. (1977), Information acquisition behavior in brand choice situations, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 3, pp. 209-16. Jaffe, E.D., and Nebenzahl, I.D. (1993), Global promotion of country image: do the Olympics count?, in Papadopoulos, N. and Heslop, L.A. (Eds), Product-Country Images: Impact and Role in International Marketing, International Business Press, Binghamton, NY, pp. 433-52. Johansson, J.K. (1989), Determinants and effects on the use of made in labels, International Marketing Review, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 47-58. Johansson, J.K. and Nebenzahl, I.D. (1987), Country-of-origin, social norms and behavioral intentions, Advances in International Marketing, Vol. 2, pp. 65-79. Johansson, J.K. and Thorelli, H.B. (1985), International product positioning, Journal of International Business Studies, Fall 1985, pp. 57-75. Johansson, J.K., Douglas, S.P. and Nonaka, I. (1985), Assessing the impact of country of origin on product evaluations: a new methodological perspective, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 22, November, pp. 388-96. Jreskog, K.G. and Srbom, D. (1993), LISREL 8: Structural Equation Modeling with the SIMPLIS Command Language, Scientific Software, Chicago, IL. Kochunny, C.M., Babakus, E., Berl, R. and Marks, W. (1993), Schematic representation of country image: its effects on product evaluations, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 5-25. Lee, C. and Green, R.T. (1991), Cross-cultural examination of the Fishbein behavioral intentions model, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 289-305. Lee, H., Kim, C. and Miller, J. (1992), The relative effects of price, warranty and country of origin on consumer product evaluations, Journal of Global Marketing, Vol. 6 Nos. 1/2, pp. 55-80. Lin, L-W. and Sternquist, B. (1994), Taiwanese consumers perceptions of product information cues: country of origin and store prestige, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 5-18. McGee, L.W. and Spiro, R.L. (1991), Salesperson and product country-of-origin effects on attitudes and intentions to purchase, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 22, pp. 21-32. Maheswaram, D. (1994), Country of origin as a stereotype: effects of consumer expertise and attribute strength on product evaluations, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 21, pp. 354-65. Martin, I.M. and Eroglu, S. (1993), Measuring a multi-dimensional construct: country image, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 28, pp. 191-210.

Monroe, K.B. (1976), The influence of price differences and brand familiarity on brand preferences, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 3, pp. 42-9. Mullen, M.R. (1995), Diagnosing measurement equivalence in cross-national research, Journal of International Business Studies, Third Quarter 1995, pp. 573-96. Obermiller, C. and Spangenberg, E. (1989), Exploring the effects of country of origin labels: an information processing framework, in Srull, T.K. (Ed.), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 16, Association for Consumer Research, Ann Arbor, MI, pp. 454-9. Ozanne, J.L., Brucks, M. and Grewal, D. (1992), A study of information search behavior during the categorization of new products, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 18, pp. 452-63. Papadopoulos, N., Heslop, A. and Beracs, J. (1990), National stereotypes and product evaluations in a socialist country, International Marketing Review, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 32-47. Papadopoulos, N., Marshall, J.J. and Heslop, L.A. (1988), Strategic implications of product and country images: a modelling approach, Marketing Productivity, European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research, 41st Research Congress, Lisbon, September 1988, pp. 69-90. Parameswaran, R. and Pisharodi, R.M. (1994), Facets of county of origin image: an empirical assessment, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 43-56. Parameswaran, R. and Yaprak, A. (1987), A cross-national comparison of consumer research measures, Journal of International Business Studies, Spring 1987, pp. 35-49. Pisharodi, R.M. and Parameswaran, R. (1992), Confirmatory factor analysis of a country-oforigin scale: initial results, in Sherry, J. and Sternthal, B. (Eds), Advances in Consumer Research, Association for Consumer Research, Ann Arbor, MI, pp. 706-14. Roth, M.S. and Romeo, J.B. (1992), Matching product category and country image perceptions: a framework for managing country-of-origin effects, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 477-97. Scott, D. and English, F. (1989), Tracking automotive intentions and imagery: a case study, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 29 No. 1, RC13-RC20. Singh, J. (1995), Measurement issues in cross-national research, Journal of International Business Studies, Third Quarter 1995, pp. 597-619. Stayman, D.M., Alden, D.L. and Smith, K.H. (1992), Some effects of schematic processing on consumer expectations and disconfirmation judgments, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 19, pp. 240-55. Steiger, J.H., Shapiro, A. and Browne, M.W. (1985), On the multivariate asymptotic distribution of sequential chi-square statistics, Psychometrika, Vol. 50 No. 3, pp. 253-64. Thorelli, H.B., Lim, J.-S. and Ye, J. (1989), Relative importance of country of origin, warranty and retail store image on product evaluations, International Marketing Review, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 35-45. Tse, D.K. and Gorn, G.J. (1993), An experiment on the salience of country-of-origin in the era of global brands, Journal of International Marketing, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 57-76. Tucker, L.R. and Lewis, C. (1973), The reliability coefficient for maximum likelihood factor analysis, Psychometrika, Vol. 38, pp. 1-10. VDA (1994), International Auto Statistics, Verband der Automobilindustrie e. V., Frankfurt. Witt, J.A. (1990), An impirical study of the combined effects of country-of-origin, brand, and store on consumer perceived risk, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Arkansas. Witt, J.A. and Rao, C.P. (1992), The impact of global sourcing on consumers: country-of-origin effects on perceived risk, Journal of Global Marketing, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 105-28. Wright, P.L. (1975), Consumer choice strategies: simplifying vs. optimizing, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 11, pp. 60-67. Yi, C.-Y. (1991), A causal structure analysis of advertising effects on attitudes toward foreign brands, doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Evaluation of a bi-national new car 95

International Marketing Review 13,5 96

Appendix: measures Affective evaluation of the Czech Republic To what degree do you associate each of the following attributes with the Czech Republic? Not at all Completely x1 Nice 1 2 3 4 5 6 x2 Friendly 1 2 3 4 5 6 x3 Pleasant 1 2 3 4 5 6 x4 Peaceful 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cognitive evaluation of the Czech Republic To what degree do you associate each of the following attributes with the Czech Republic Not at all Completely y1 Competent 1 2 3 4 5 6 y2 Reliable 1 2 3 4 5 6 y3 State-of-the-art 1 2 3 4 5 6 y4 Successful 1 2 3 4 5 6 Evaluation of the Czech Republics automobile industry To what degree do you associate each of the following automobile industry? Not at all y5 State-of-the-art technology 1 y6 High quality standards and control 1 y7 Well-trained workforce 1 y8 Highly motivated workers 1 statements with the Czech Republics 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 Completely 6 6 6 6

Evaluation of automobiles made in the Czech Republic in general To what degree do you associate each of the following statements with automobiles manufactured in the Czech Republic in general? Not at all Completely y9 High reliability 1 2 3 4 5 6 y10 Perfect workmanship 1 2 3 4 5 6 y11 Infrequent repairs 1 2 3 4 5 6 y12 Superb quality 1 2 3 4 5 6 Image of manufacturers brand To what degree do you associate each of the following expressions with Mercedes-Benz? Not at all Completely x5 Passenger safety 1 2 3 4 5 6 x6 Reliability 1 2 3 4 5 6 x7 Perfection 1 2 3 4 5 6 x8 Quality 1 2 3 4 5 6 Evaluation of the appearance of the new model In your opinion, to what degree does each of the following attributes apply to the appearance of the new automobile shown in this photograph? Not at all y13 Appealing 1 2 3 4 y14 Attractive 1 2 3 4 y15 Sleek 1 2 3 4

5 5 5

Completely 6 6 6

Evaluation of the models features In your opinion, to what degree does each of the following attributes apply to the other features of the new automobile described here? Not at all Completely y16 Desirable 1 2 3 4 5 6 y17 Excellent 1 2 3 4 5 6 y18 Favourable 1 2 3 4 5 6 y19 Pleasing 1 2 3 4 5 6 Attitude towards the model To what degree do you associate each of the following statements with this new automobile? Not at all Completely y20 High reliability 1 2 3 4 5 6 y21 Perfect workmanship 1 2 3 4 5 6 y22 Infrequent repairs 1 2 3 4 5 6 y23 Superb quality 1 2 3 4 5 6 Behavioural intention in connection with the new automobile Imagine you are about to buy a new car of about the size of the Vision A. To what degree would each of the following statements about the new model apply to yourself? Not at all Completely y24 I will request further information on the new model 1 2 3 4 5 6 y25 I would like to take a look at the car at a Mercedes dealer 1 2 3 4 5 6 y26 I would like to test-drive the new model 1 2 3 4 5 6 y27 The purchase of the new car would be a wise decision 1 2 3 4 5 6

Evaluation of a bi-national new car 97