Definition of Research Constructs : Country of Origin Evaluation

A country of origin representation is any labeling, packaging, logo or advertising that makes a statement, claim or implication about which country goods come from (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, 2003). Schooler (1965) began a first study on COO effect of “Product Bias” in the Central American Common Market. The paper was published in the Journal of Marketing Research in November, 1965. After the first article of Schooler published, researchers and marketers tried to extend the study on COO effect even more widely in today’s research field. Country of origin has been studied by starting from the single cue to multiple cues, hybrid product and it is represented as the stereotype of their country and products (Chao, 1998). Wall, et al. (1991), Ozsomer and Cavusgil (1991), Lim et al. (1994), and Peterson and Jolibert (1995) had conducted a series of research through the observation of the students’ reaction responding to the COO effects by examining the stem from the use of single cue models versus multi cue models. This study employed the use of different forms of descriptive versus tangible product information. In 1994, Samiee (1994) studied on a topic of “Customer Evaluation of Products in a Global Market” defined differently, rating from country of origin (COO), country of manufacturing (COM), and country stereotype effect (CSE). He significantly pointed out that country of origin did influence on the consumer product evaluation.

On the other hand, according to his observations, Samiee’s pointed out that there were many researchers that examined the country of origin effects phenomenon for more than three decades, with more support arguments and some refute argument Peterson and Jolibert (1995) employed meta-analysis to quantity the COO effect involving two categories of dependent variables—quality/reliability perceptions and/or purchase intentions. They used omega-square (w2), which include and F statistic and standard deviations that it reflects non-linear and linear association as well, to measure the effect size of COO effect. They also found that COO has a significant effect on consumer product evaluation. Verlegh and Steenkamp (1999) also conducted the research on a meta-analysis of COO effects on three types of product evaluations—perceived quality, attitude, and purchase intention—focusing on cognitive, affective, and normative aspect of COO (see Table 2-2). In conclusion, the past studies have found that the country of origin represents to one of the important information search of the consumers to evaluate the product buying intention.