Product-, corporate-, and country-image dimensions and purchase behavior: A multicountry analysis

Abstract

This research focuses on consumer perceptions that are developed on the basis of a firm's advertising appeals as well as other factors. In conceptualizing brand-image perceptions, the authors extend the frequent use of product-related images to include corporate and country images attached to brands. The authors report findings based on secondary economic and cultural data at the macro level and the results of a global brand-image survey conducted in the top 20 international automobile markets at the individual level. The findings suggest that while consumers' attitudes toward corporate image and country image exert main effects on their brand purchase behavior, the effects of certain product-image appeals are moderated by sociodemographics and national cultural characteristics. The empirical results are broadly supportive of the proposed hypotheses and provide a consumer-based extension of Roth's work on global brand image.