How Does the Antecedents of Product Country Image Affect Willingness to Buy Foreign Products?

• Main Author: Aliya Bushra (Corresponding author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Johar Education Society 2017-08-01
• Series: Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences
• Subjects: product country image; materialism; value consciousness; consumer ethnocentrism; cosmopolitanism
• Online Access: http://www.jespk.net/publications/380.pdf

The aim of this study is to test the effect of four antecedents of Product Country Image: i) Materialism, ii) Consumer Ethnocentrism, iv) Value Consciousness and Cosmopolitanism, on Home Product Country Image and Foreign Product Country Image. This relationship has not been tested before in Pakistan. Secondly, the aim was to investigate this impact of Product Country Image on Willingness to Buy. For this purpose the sample size of 616 respondents were selected. All data was collected as primary data through questionnaires sent to college/university students across Lahore, Pakistan. Later, confirmatory factor analysis was done to check the reliability and validity of each constructs employed in this study. After conducting Structural Equation Modeling, we found a significant impact of Materialism; Cosmopolitanism, Value Consciousness and Ethnocentrism on Foreign Product Country Image. Also, Value consciousness and Cosmopolitanism had a significant impact on Home Product Country Image. This provides significance to existing literature and marketing strategies of foreign brands that are operating in Pakistan. Managers can well analyze their target market by the findings of this study. Similarly, foreign product country image was found to have a positive relationship, whereas, Home product country image had a negative impact on Willingness to buy. This implies that Pakistani consumers have a stronger positive effect of foreign brands in their minds as compared to their local brands. They tend to buy those brands which are perceived to be “foreign” brands.