Abstract:
Is customer perception based on country of origin effect a threat or an opportunity?
This question is examined observing brand factors including brand association, brand loyalty
and perceived quality, which contribute in adding values to local and global products.
Customer perception has always been a topic of interest for strategy makers to capture
maximum shares from the market whether locally or globally. This research investigates the
impact country of origin on customer perception and on its factors. We further analyze the
possible implications of the moderating effect that “product-category” association has on
country of origin effect. Data was collected by survey through a questionnaire. The
independent variable is country of origin while the dependent variables used in this study
includes: perceived quality, brand awareness, brand association. The sample size of the study
was 302 respondents. The results suggested that country of origin has a strong effect on
perceived quality as compared to other dependent variables. Focusing on moderating effect
of variable “product-category” association, it has very little to almost negligible effect on the
relationship of country of origin and customer perception. Hence this study proves that
country of origin effect has a very strong influence on consumer in decision making process
of selecting a particular product from the market, keeping in mind the perception of the
product that consumer relates with country of origin.
