The Compensatory Influences of Country Stereotypes and the Global/Local Nature of Brands on Consumer Responses: An Extended Framework
(R2020-84125)

AUTHORS

David Bourdin, FHWien der WKW; Georgios Halkias, University of Vienna; Attila Yaprak, Wayne State University

KEYWORDS

PBG; PBL; COO

ABSTRACT

Both the globalness/localness of a brand and the image of its origin country influence consumer attitudes, but most research has examined these factors in isolation. This two-country study extends previous work by showing the independent as well as interactive effects of branding decisions and country stereotypes. Importantly, we shed light on how the stereotypes may substitute or complement brand globalness and localness perceptions. Furthermore, we control for the effects of brand-, product-, and consumer-specific characteristics, and thus test our hypotheses in a stricter nomological network than extant studies. Our findings partially confirm the existence of a compensatory mechanism between (a) brand globalness and country warmth, and (b) brand localness and country competence, leading to new implications regarding brand positioning strategies under different conditions.