The Moderating Effect of Multicultural Competence in Brand-of-Origin Effect
The Moderating Effect of Multicultural Competence in Brand-of-Origin Effect
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多元文化能力对原产地品牌效应的调节作用
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发表时间：
2007-07
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[摘要]关于原产地效应的研究已经非常广泛。研究认为，消费者的产品评价和购买意愿可能受到国家形象刻板印象的影响。我们认为，随着全球化进程的推进，人们可能会改变对国家形象的刻板印象，提高多元文化能力。原产国效应可能受到这种变化的影响。本研究旨在探讨多元文化能力对原产地品牌效应的调节作用。具体而言，我们建立了一个模型来解释原产地品牌形象、产品属性和感知产品质量之间的关系，并通过消费者的多元文化能力来调节。我们使用认知封闭需求作为多元文化能力的指标。采用2X2研究设计，我们以201名大学生为方便样本检验假设。结果表明，国家品牌对低多元文化能力消费者进行产品质量评价的影响更大：当国内外产品在其他属性上相同时，国产产品比国外产品获得更多的正面评价，而原产地品牌较好比原产地品牌较差获得更多的正面评价。对于多元文化能力高的消费者来说，其他产品属性在质量评价中的影响更大，这类消费者不太容易受到原产地品牌的影响。[关键词]原产地品牌效应；多元文化的能力;认知封闭需要；在国际商务、市场营销和消费者行为文献中，对原产地（COO）效应进行了广泛的研究。原产国是指一件物品或产品的制造、生产或增长的国家。据认为，原产国对消费者的产品评价和对品牌的购买意愿有影响（Kim & Pysarchik, 2000; Lee & Ganesh, 1999; Teas & Agarwal, 2000）。研究人员已经确定了COO效应的两个主要原因。一是国家间的社会经济差异，特别是发达国家和发展中国家在技术能力和产品质量上的差异（Schooler, 1971）。另一个原因是消费者的认知偏差。研究表明，消费者可能倾向于对来自本国的产品有相对偏好（种族中心主义），或者由于其国家形象刻板印象，可能倾向于对来自某些国家的某些产品有相对偏好或厌恶（Nagashima, 1970）。经济和市场的全球化已经极大地改变了上述两个因素。正如托马斯·弗里德曼（Thomas Friedman, 2005）在他的畅销书中所说，全球化改变了核心经济概念，世界是“平的”，因为工业国和新兴市场国家之间的竞争环境是平等的。随着技术在世界范围内的转移和扩散，发达国家和发展中国家在产品质量上的差距越来越小。另一方面，全球化也促进了跨文化的交流和理解。通过跨文化互动，人们可以改变对国家形象的刻板印象，提高多元文化能力。多元文化能力是指人们认识、理解和尊重文化差异，利用多元文化知识的能力（Arthur et al., 2005）。Chiu和Hong（2005）确定了多元文化能力的四个主要组成部分，即对文化意义的文化间和文化内变化的敏感性，在跨文化互动中使用与情境相适应的文化知识，在转换文化框架以形成意义方面的灵活性，以及利用文化知识促进创造力。多元文化能力这个术语是最近才出现的，但已经广泛应用于教育、社会工作和医疗保健领域。．．．
[Abstract] Research on country-of-origin effect has been extensive. It is believed that consumers' product evaluations and purchase intentions may be influenced by their country image stereotypes. We argue that with the progress of globalization, people may change their country image stereotypes and increase multicultural competences. The country-of-origin effect may be influenced by such changes. This study aims to examine the moderating effect of multicultural competence in brand-of-origin effect. Specifically, we developed a model to explicate the relationship between brand-of-origin image, product attributes, and perceived product quality, moderating by consumers' multicultural competence. We use need for cognitive closure as the indicator of multicultural competence. Using a 2X2 research design, we tested the hypotheses with a convenient sample of 201 university students. The results demonstrated that country brand was more influential to consumers with low multicultural competence when they made product quality evaluation: When domestic and foreign products are identical on other attributes, domestic products get more positive evaluation than foreign products, and favorable brand-of-origin leads to more positive evaluation than less favorable brand-of-origin. For consumers with high multicultural competence, other product attributes are more influential in quality evaluation, and such consumers will be less susceptible to the influence of brand-of-origin. [Keywords] Brand-of-Origin effect; multicultural competence; need for cognitive closure; Chinese consumer Introduction Extensive research on country-of-origin (COO) effect has been reported in the international business, marketing, and consumer behavior literatures. Country of origin is the country of manufacture, production, or growth where an article or product comes from. It is believed that the country of origin has an impact on consumers' product evaluations and purchasing intentions to a brand (Kim & Pysarchik, 2000; Lee & Ganesh, 1999; Teas & Agarwal, 2000). Researchers have identified two major causes of COO effect. One is the social-economic differences among countries, especially the differences in technology capability and product quality between developed and developing countries (Schooler, 1971). Another cause is consumer's cognitive bias. Studies have shown that consumers may tend to have a relative preference to products from their own country (ethnocentrism) or may tend to have a relative preference for or aversion to certain products that originate from certain countries due to their country image stereotypes (Nagashima, 1970). The globalization of economies and markets has been dramatically changing the two factors mentioned above. As Thomas Friedman (2005) argues in his best-selling book, globalization has changed core economical concepts and the world is "flat" in the sense that the competitive playing fields between industrial and emerging market countries are leveling. With the worldwide technology transfer and diffusion, the gap in product quality between developed and developing countries are becoming small. On the other hand, globalization has also facilitated intercultural communication and understanding. Through cross-cultural interaction, people may change their country image stereotypes and increase multicultural competences. Multicultural competence refers to the ability of people to recognize, understand, and respect cultural differences, utilize multicultural knowledge (Arthur et al., 2005). Chiu and Hong (2005) identified four major components of multicultural competence, namely, sensitivity to both inter- and intracultural variations in cultural meanings, use of context-appropriate cultural knowledge in intercultural interaction, flexibility in switching cultural frames for sense making, and use of cultural knowledge to foster creativity. The term of multicultural competence is fairly recent but has become widely used in the fields of education, social work, and healthcare. …