Country of origin effect on perceived brand
identity, brand meaning, brand response,
and brand relationship
Master Thesis
Author: Zheren Chen (11373539)
Supervisor: Meulemans, Antoon
Faculty of Economics and Business
MSc. in Business Administration -- Marketing track
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Statement of originality
This document is written by Zheren Chen who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this report.
I declare that the text and the work presented in this document are original and that no
sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of
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Acknowledgements
I would like to address my sincere gratitude to my Thesis Supervisor: Antoon Meulemans, for the great patience, understanding, and support during the thesis writing process. I sincerely appreciate the obtained feedback and the willingness to help me with creating a typical
research paper.
With my deepest gratitude, Zheren Chen
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Abstract
Recent research suggests the Country of origin effect plays an important role in purchase decisions, but few findings mention how the brand perception and the different cultural dimensions play a role in this relationship. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the effects of the primary brand element and the secondary brand association on brand identity, brand meaning, brand response and brand relationship. An online survey is used to collect information about how a brand is perceived by people based on their different attitude towards the country of origin and their cultural dimensions. The propose of this paper is to reveal how brand perception is influenced by the process and whether there exist some correlations between different variables. Three brands are used in the questionnaires: Gree, Lenovo, and Midea. All the brands are from China, but they have completely different
strategies in the marketing strategy. The results show that the electrical products related to the secondary brand association, regarding China, are usually better perceived by consumers and the bias towards China has a positive correlation with brand perception. These results
concluded that associating a brand with a positively perceived country of origin, always lead to better brand perception.
Keywords: Country of origin effect, primary brand element, secondary brand association,
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Content
Abstract ... 3
1. Introduction ... 7
2. Literature review ... 10
2.1. Primary brand element ... 10
2.1.1. Brand name ... 10
2.1.2. Brand logo ... 11
2.1.3. Brand jingle and pronouncement ... 12
2.1.4. Brand packaging ... 13
2.2. Secondary brand association ... 13
2.2.1. Leverage process ... 14
2.2.2. Source of secondary knowledge ... 14
2.2.3. Country of origin association ... 15
2.3 Brand perception ... 19
2.3.1. Brand identity ... 19
2.3.2. Brand meaning ... 20
2.3.3. Brand response ... 20
2.3.4. Brand relationship ... 21
2.4. Hofstede’s cultural values ... 21
2.5. Product category option ... 22
3. Conceptual framework, hypotheses, and research methodology ... 25
3.1. Main questions ... 25
3.1.1. Explanation of conceptual model ... 25
3.1.2. Conceptual model ... 26 3.2 Research methodology ... 28 3.2.1. Research design ... 28 3.2.2. The questionnaire ... 29 3.3.3. Research strategy ... 30 4. Results ... 32
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4.1. Sample description... 32
4.2. Primary brand element and secondary brand association ... 32
4.3. Scale reliabilities ... 33
4.4. Descriptive statistics and correlations ... 34
4.5. Hypothesis testing- hierarchical regression without moderator effect ... 36
4.5.1. Brand identity ... 36
4.5.2. Brand meaning ... 38
4.5.3. Brand response ... 40
4.5.4. Brand relationship ... 42
4.6. The moderator effect between cultural dimension and brand perception... 44
4.6.1. Brand identity ... 44
4.6.2. Brand meaning ... 47
4.6.3. Brand response ... 49
4.6.4. Brand relationship ... 51
4.7. Bivariate correlation and covariance analysis with moderator effect ... 55
4.7.1. Bivariate correlation analysis ... 56
4.7.2. Analysis of covariance ... 57
5. Discussion, limitation and recommendation ... 60
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Figure 1: Conceptual model ... 27
Table 1: Species of different culture respondents ... 32
Table 2: Cronbach's alpha to brand perception ... 34
Table 3: Means, standard deviations and correlation ... 36
Table 4: Hierarchical multiple regression-brand identity ... 37
Table 5: Hierarchical multiple regression-brand meaning ... 39
Table 6: Hierarchical multiple regression-brand response ... 41
Table 7: Hierarchical multiple regression-brand relationship ... 43
Table 8: Mixed ANOVA analysis-brand identity ... 44
Table 9: Mixed ANOVA analysis-brand meaning ... 48
Table 10: Mixed ANOVA analysis-brand response ... 49
Table 11: Mixed ANOVA analysis-brand relationship ... 51
Table 12: Cultural dimension score to five species ... 53
Chart 1: Cultural dimension score to five species ... 53
Table 14: Bivariate correlation analysis-US ... 56
Table 15: Bivariate correlation analysis-CN ... 57
Table 16: Analysis of covariance-Gree... 57
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1. Introduction
There are many research papers focused on the country of origin effect. In the past, "made in the US," "made in Japan" was always regarded as a guarantee for high-quality products. On the other side, product label as "made in China" were usually perceived as poor-quality items in the low-price range. Nowadays, the demand from the consumers is becoming more and more diversified, and the brand perception bias of the different countries of origin is growing more and more distinct. For example, textile products are considered be a better quality when they are made in China, compared to other countries (Ereney H. 2005). However, the preference based solely on the country of origin is full of many contradictions. Today, most of the iPhones are produced in China and customers widely accept it, while other electrical products like televisions or refrigerators are still mostly produced in other countries (Piyush Sharma 2011), from which we can find out that the perception of a product based on the country of origin is quite varying in the different product categories and cultural backgrounds. Therefore, exploratory research needs to be conducted to explain the influence of the country of origin effect on the various product categories among customers.
With the development of multinational corporations and their expansion, many experts have confirmed that the country of origin of a product will influence the brand perception among consumers. Especially with the rise of hybrid products, people started to revise their opinion on country of origin. For example, Piyush (2011) suggests that with the manufacturing boom in China, the Chinese products have been widely accepted among value-conscious consumers in other emerging markets. Also, Simachev (2010) believes that the spread of emerging market bond is not only a benefit to the globalization, but also removes the
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differences between the manufacturing and service sector, the effect of which is even more notable when a country of origin is included in the equation. To put it briefly, brand perception is always changing and the country of origin of a product plays a major role in the process.
However, current research in the field focuses more on the brand perception of the different countries of origin. For example, George Balabanis. (2011) explains that there is a close relationship between the country of origin's bias and the brand perception. Therefore, a negative bias towards the country of origin can profoundly impact brand's perception. Martin Eisend (2013) mentions that brand personality can influence brand perception among consumers, if those two elements are contradicting each other, it will cause a misunderstanding and it will negatively impact the purchase intention.
Meanwhile, Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory (2010) is always used as a moderator to explain how cultural dimensions plays a big role in multiple hypotheses between different types of people. On the one hand, Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory has been widely used with success in various fields, but there is little research oriented towards the application of the theory of brand perception. On the other hand, connecting with the primary brand elements and the secondary brand association theories (Keller, K. 2003), this result is used to explain how brand perception exist on a more macroscopic level.
Firstly, the study starts with a literature review based on the fundamental theories related to the country of origin effect in multiple product and categories. As a starting point, Magnusson, P. (2009) points out the consumer’s bias towards the country of origin of a brand, regardless of its accuracy or not, will always affect brand perception. Then, through borrowing concepts from the cultural dimension theory (Hofstede 2010), this paper goes to bridge the gap
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between the country of origin effect and brand perception. In the research by Hofstede (2010), he mentions five elements which influence the cognition among people in a country, which is the foundation of the analyzed hypothesis. Furthermore, Keller (2003) uses the brand value chain model to explain the relationship between brand building and shareholder value, and describes how a brand perception is constructed. After bridging these theories, the study lists a few hypothesizes and describes a survey design. In its essence, the article analyzes the temporal research and the gap between the country of origin effect and product category information. In addition, one product category is chosen for conducting further research. Secondly, based on the primary and secondary association theories, the study explains how the brand resonance model plays a role in brand perception. Thirdly, the research measures whether the effect of cultural dimension and attitude towards product’s country of origin will influence the customers' preference, the results are based on gathered data and the conducted survey. Finally, the research makes a conclusion after the discussions, mentions the implications and limitation, which are followed by a recommendation in the end.
Concisely, according to the question of how primary brand element and secondary brand
association message, which is moderated by cultural dimension and attitude towards the country of origin, will influence the Brand perception, the result shows that products from
China have a higher acceptance level compared to the past. Compared to the product from the US, Chinese products take more advantage of a positive bias toward the country of origin.
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2. Literature review
2.1 Primary brand element
Logo, symbols, characters or slogan, packing, jingles, etc. are widely used in brand equity building (Keller 2005), which is a method to attract attention from customers in both visual and verbal settings. Because of that, marketers usually take advantage of it to control people’s brand awareness and build a strong, favourable and unique brand association. Keller (2003) mentions that there are six criteria for choosing brand elements and three of which, memorability, meaningfulness, and likability are used more aggressively, while other three of which, transferability, adaptability, and protectability are used more defensively.
2.1.1 Brand name
Most of the researchers are focusing on the brand name and the packaging of the product. Keller (1998) concludes "naming as a fundamental form of familiarity" because the brand value is attached to a brand name and a customer can distinguish the product’s attributes based on name directly. Hutchinson, J. (1994) mentions that brand name is related to brand preference as well. Through the experiment, it supports the idea that brand name plays a vital role in brand perception. Schmitt, B. (1993) uses an analysis to prove that the advertisement delivered by the brand name is always much easier to be remembered than by pictures. Macklin M (1996) reveals how essential it is to associate visual cue when focusing on improving customer's memory. The author points out when a brand name is expressed visually, children tend to be more capable of remembering the brand. Furthermore, today many researchers revealed that the morphological characteristics of a brand name could influence brand evaluation as well.
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For example, Lowrey, T. (2007) finds out that the morphological characteristics of a brand name can directly affect product evaluation, such as Kit Kat, Coca-cola, Jelly Belly, etc. most of which can arouse a positive emotion especially when they are spoken loudly.
Other than the brand name and a visual cue, it can be found that using color cue or pictorial strategy will send more information to customers during an associative network, which is essential to increase the connection between the mental construction and the brand name. From the experiment by Park, C. (2010), the author emphasizes how imagery provided an implication for marketing strategy because it is closely related to the mental imagery and elaboration. Combined with the network model by Borst, J. (2013), different degree of associations is usually easier to be recalled in firm association information, which confirmed the hypothesis that right visual cues could stimulate a stronger memory connection for the brand name than without or with unassociated elements.
2.1.2 Brand logo
Today, it is widely accepted that the repeated exposure of brand logo and brand name can improve the influence of brand advertisements. A brand logo can consist of a meaningful picture, a memory or any abstract descriptor (JaniszewskI, C. 2001). On the one hand, many researchers have mentioned repetition is the key to a positive response, on the other hand, a major part of research is focused on how people will respond differently from fluency-based attribution. Van der Lans (2009) reveals that when people experience repeated exposure to a brand logo, they will believe these statements are true and believe in them for a long time. On the other hand, other researchers also find out that the connection between stimulus character
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and judgment characteristics will influence the brand attribution. Furthermore, researchers find out that the attribution about processing the fluency source will affect the judgment. Aghion, P. (2005) finds no wonder in positive or negative information; repetition will both aggravate the attachment to the information source, which reveals an increasing, decreasing and an inverted-U relationship among different context. Overall, from the marketing perspective, both repetition and processing fluency are widely used to attract attention and make the banner or logo recommendations.
2.1.3 Brand jingle and pronouncement
Although there are many existing concepts about sound symbolism, most of them are not closely related to the marketing environment. Some of the researchers have revealed that sound symbolism influences customers' brand perception. In 1890, James discussed that sound could produce a kind of "subtle feelings" to people. Miller, S. (1981) reports in 1975-1980 that most of the successful brands are pronounced by letters a, b, c, k, m compared to others. After which, Klink, R. (2001) reveals brand name started with plosive usually more easily be remembered by customers. Meanwhile, Schmitt, B. (1993) points out the frequency of animal sounds can communicate a message as well. For example, except the to attract people's attention from jingle, sound can transfer another message such as aggression, assertiveness and dominance, etc. Bain, K. (2011) explains that harsh messages act a different role than friendly messages, which can be felt in jingle directly. Today, Sigelman, L. (2002) points out that not only meaning but also emotions can be connected by sound. Zhu, R. (2005) concludes that when sounds are combined with produced music, more positive hedonic value will be emerged in product
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perception. A piece of musical repetition can directly create pleasure and can affect positively brand evaluation in the end. In conclusion, the application of sound in marketing has got more and more attention.
2.1.4 Brand packaging
Packaging is considered as a method to influence brand and self-identity. Hong, S. (1989) mentions that the packaging is used to describe the character of the product. Underwood, R. (2003) refers that packaging is an expression of a brand attribute. Furthermore, Keller (1993) also notes that the functional and experiential product benefit is always related to product-related attributes. However, a symbolic benefit is always product-related to non-product-product-related attributes. Except, considering packaging as a determinant of brand’s success, many other researchers have revealed that the relationship between ethical packaging issues and packing size to customers. One example is visual attention, a brand packaging can directly affect the visual preference and finally lead to the brand evaluation. In fact, the packaging is not only a communication vehicle for symbolism but also necessary for the understanding of the brand. It can both attract customers' attention in the supermarket and, at the same time benefit to reduce the cost of mass-media advertisement and improve brand recognition of the capacity (PCG 2005).
2.2 Secondary brand association
Although the primary brand element is important during brand building, there still exist some indirect associations. For example, Keller (2005) points out that secondary brand association is always affecting consumer's evaluation when people lack the motivation to make
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a judgement of a deeper level. In a word, when people cannot process the information to a brand, a secondary brand association will show its effects.
2.2.1 Leverage process
Three factors can be used to explain how leverage will affect the secondary association. Keller (2005) concludes three factors from brand to other entity, including knowledge of entity, meaningfulness of the knowledge of the entity and transferability of the entity. First of all, it is important how a brand knowledge from one to other entities is transferred. If people are not familiar with the entity, it is impossible to transfer the feeling and emotion. Secondly, the knowledge between entity and brand itself should be meaningful. For example, brand and product context should relate to each other, and if there is little existing connection, a secondary association will be hard to create. Thirdly, the knowledge should be linked and relevant from other entity to a brand, that’s the reason why events are always used to arouse feeling among customers and establish attribute to the brand because some coincident points are existing.
2.2.2 Source of secondary knowledge
Brand knowledge can be created in many ways. Many encounters with a brand can become an invariable to change mental response in consumers. One the one hand, a brand always need some marketing programs to create brand knowledge, on the other hand, this brand knowledge should be associated with other people and place at the same time. Otherwise consumers may be difficult to achieve the attribute of these strategies (Keller 2003). There are two ways to link brand to other elements. The first one is creating new brand knowledge and the second one is affecting existing brand knowledge. For example, events and sponsorship can
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be good options to attract brand awareness and improve the brand image. Celebrity endorsement is another option, combined with the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and peripheral cue, it can be approved execution device is the most appropriate in low involvement situation (Sejung Marina Choi 2005).
2.2.3 Country of origin association
The concept of country of origin is first used in international trade. The origin of country always mentions the location from where the products are coming. In fact, the country of origin could be a country, an area or an organization (Sharma, P. 2011). During the beginning of international trade, the place where products were manufactured, the brand of origin, the package of origin and the design of origin were always the same, few people have considered the importance of country of origin, until E, Dichter. (1962) first created the word of “made in …”, and found that the difference between technology, culture and politics would affect the quality of products, which means products from different countries may have distinct difference and finally affect consumers’ perception. Few years later, more and more companies started to widely use this theory to arouse the attention from consumers.
2.2.3.1 Country of origin’s message
Roth, M. (1992) emphasizes that country of origin message will influence consumers’ perception to a country, which will directly affect the view of product from that country. In fact, most of researchers point out a positive opinion would improve the consumer perception and finally benefit to the international marketing strategy.
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consumers, the more quality perceptive level they will receive, in the end, it will give an incentive to their final purchase. This conclusion has been expanded that the country of origin effects would directly be influenced by the perception, the emotion, and the preference of consumers. After that Krishnan, R. (2006) expands these opinions and profoundly points that this effect would be moderated by the factors related to both home country and company themselves. After which more and more other research papers have been proposed and confirmed that country of origin effects do exist and play an essential role in the business environment. In fact, the consumer can both judge the quality of a product and reduce the risk from purchasing by country of origin message, and country of origin effect will keep working in consumer option especially when the information they can receive is limited.
On the other hand, Peeter W. J. Verlegh (2007) also concluded that a particular emotion would influence people based on the nationality. For example, although Korean consumers knew that mobile phone from the US is high quality, they would still buy Samsung. Ravi Pappu (2007) also find the political institution and economic level also influence the evaluation from consumers. To a country with high level of technology and economic environment, consumers usually have a higher assessment than a country with a lower level of economics.
However, although many evidence supports that the country of origin effect and message exist in the business world, many other researchers are conflicting with this opinion. Scott S. Liu (2005) argues that only 6% of people knew the real country of origin message before their purchasing. In contrast, more than 85% of people said they did not see a country of origin correctly and they do not care about it, which means consumers' knowledge about a country of origin message is always limited. Furthermore, Balabanis, G. (2008) also finds in the US, only
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27% of people can identify the brand of electrical products correctly. At the same time, Samiee, S. (1994) concludes why consumers' brand origin is in shortage. In fact, consumers always unfamiliar with the correct country of origin so that it is not the most important factor that influences consumers' purchase behavior.
In conclusion, country of origin message plays a vital role in encouraging customers' final purchase behavior, but meanwhile, it is never absolute, many studies have sometimes demonstrated neither consumers nor company can possess the information of country of origin correctly.
2.2.3.2 Country of origin respondent
(1) Preference to home products
Some researchers point out that compared to foreign products, consumers prefer choosing home products when the product attribute is similar. One of the most important reason is consumers believe they have duty and responsibility to support their home country's economy and development (McGahan, A. 2010). Furthermore, compared to developing countries, consumers in developed countries have more recognition to their product. Research in the US finds a most popular reason why consumers trend to support product made in the US is that they want to help solve the problem of unemployment issue and other economic issues (Swaminathan, H. 2004).
Under the research of preference to home products, ethnocentrism and the level of development are two main points which affect the results. The higher ethnocentrism or development level a country has, the higher a preference for home products will be
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(2) Preference to developed countries
In many developing countries, consumers believe products from developed countries represent high quality while the products from developing countries are always of poor quality (Sharma, P. 2011). Meanwhile, in developed countries, consumers also believe that the products from other developed countries would be better than products from developing countries (Roasa, D. 2012). In conclusion, the evaluation to developed countries is always higher than developing countries. Sharma (2011) uses four nations as examples to reconfirm the finding and finds comparing to developed countries, consumers in developing countries show a stronger preference for a product from developed countries.
In general, the preference is affected by "recognition" and "emotion". Firstly, people always believe that a product from developed countries is more reliable than one from developing countries. Secondly, developed countries are always an object to developing countries. Finally, many research finds that in developed countries, the product from Japan, US and Germany are far more popular than other countries.
(3) Non-preference to country of origin
However, some new researchers which show that people are more rational and changeable than we expected (Shugan, S. 2006). In fact, many researchers point out in reality, consumers pay more attention to quality than a country of origin. Sigelma (2002) experiments and find in the US; people always prefer high quality and reasonable price car to high price over-decorated car. Meanwhile, Shugan (2006) also points out “If differences in decision-making ability are important sources of the heterogeneity in economic outcomes, then even quite costly policy
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changes aimed at "soft" or "libertarian" paternalism may hold substantial promise”.
In conclusion, many decisions are still made in economic rational instead of social responsibility, concluding the different attitude toward the country of origin message, H1 is proposed, Attitude towards the image of a country of origin has a positive correlation with brand perception.
2.3 Brand perception
Keller (2003) finds a strong brand will benefit the company in many areas, such as customer loyalty, brand attachment, and better customer response. However, he also mentions that it is not that easy to achieve a good brand perception. To explain how to build a brand and win more brand perception, he developed a model call customer-based brand equity, by which to tell what it is and how it can be used to build, measure and manage the brand.
2.3.1 Brand identity
Creating brand salience with customers is the first step in brand building. In order be effective, a brand identity needs to relate to customers at first. For example, Faircloth, J. (2001) emphasizes that brand image needs to be well planned. Combined with the theory by Aaker, D. (1996), he mentions that the most critical part in brand identity in to express what this brand stands for, based on which, a brand identity can benefit to create a preference in a market and add a different value to the product or service. In a word, brand identity means customers can understand what their need for the brand is and what function they can receive from the brand.
Based on previous explanation, it leads to the H2: Primary brand elements written in Chinese
will positively influence a brand identity more than when it is written in English; H6: Secondary brand association regard to China will positively influence a brand identity more than when it is written in English.
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2.3.2 Brand meaning
Brand meaning is closely related to brand image, and it directly affects how it exists in customers' mind. On the performance side, it controls how customer experience, think about, and perceive the brand. Whatever a product is, it is necessary to satisfy the customers' need and wants, which is also the first step to encourage brand perception, so in the performance, a customer can perceive more on functional demand (Aker, D. 1996). Sometimes the performance may change in different category, while attribute and benefit should always be same. On the other hand, imagery side is about how a brand attempt to meet customers' psychological demand. For example, three dimensions are included: strength, favorability and uniqueness, all of which are important in brand association construction.
In conclusion, the core of the brand building is a total accumulation of customers' experience, successful brands are those who can adapt to the different environment and survive in long-term, which leads to H3: Primary brand elements written in Chinese will positively influence a
brand meaning more than when it is written in English; H7: Secondary brand association regard to China positively influence a brand meaning more than when it is written in English.
2.3.3 Brand response
Brand response means how customers respond to the brand; it consists of brand judgment and brand feeling. On the one hand, brand judgment expressed in how personal’s opinion is put together by the different performance of the company. On the other hand, people have the brand feeling expressed in the daily life. For example, customer will always evoke a better feeling toward a brand when it is always relating to some positive topics in society.
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In fact, although customers response could appear in the different situation, feeling and judgment can only affect customer's behavior when they have a positive thinking about the brand (Keller 2003), which leads to H4: Primary brand elements written in Chinese will positively
influence a brand response more than when it is written in English; H8: Secondary brand association regard to China positively influence a brand response more than when it is written in English.
2.3.4 Brand relationship
Brand relationship refers to how customers relate to the brand based on psychological bond. Behavior loyalty is expressed in how often does a customer repeat in the purchase and how much do they purchase. Attitudinal attachment explained how particular a brand is in context or message. The sense of community helps a customer to connect with other people who use the same brand. Active engagement explained how possible it is that customers would engage with a brand without other expended during the purchase (Keller 2003). For example, the influence of word of mouth is an excellent option to help communicate brand among people. Based on previous research, it leads to H5: Primary brand elements written in Chinese will positively
influence a brand relationship more than when it is written in English; H9: Secondary brand association regard to China positively affect a brand relationship more than when it is written in English.
2.4 Hofstede’s cultural values
Inkeles, A. (1969) first find that there are three issues which can be used to analyze culture differences. Those are the relation to authority, the conception of self and primary dilemmas or conflicts and the ways of dealing with them. At the same time, Williams, B. (1964）concludes that there is no precise definition of a construction of social science. After which, in 1980,
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Hofstede firstly defines culture as “an interactive aggregative of common characteristics that influence a group’s response to its environment,” then he uses five dimensions to explain this theory, including power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism or collectivism, masculine or feminine and long-term or short-term orientation. In a word, because human behavior comes with time and takes its way so that prediction of response can be tracked with specific rules. In 2000, Ronald expanded the theories based on the study between economic and institutional factors on cultural changes, which confirms that economic development plays a vital role in income growth and it will finally affect the cultural consequences.
Other research like Peterson (1995) pointing the link between economic development and postmaterialist is flexible in the different country’s background. For example, in China, Chinese believe postmaterialist is more critical than financial development. These results have further deepened the application of Hofstede’s theories, on this basis H10 is proposed that a similar cultural dimension among different countries usually cause a same brand perception of a product.
2.5 Product category option
According to the research by Chinese Development Research Centre of the State Council, more than 60% of the top 500 Chinese companies are doing business outside the country. Meanwhile, combined with Roth, M. (1992), who defines the product category is influenced by product quality driver to brand image driver. In more detail, product quality driver means brand perception is affected by the objective quality of products, while brand image driver implies brand perception is based on brand reputation and respect. (Kumar, N. 2013).
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product is always used to concentrate on the advanced technology and revelation ability, which directly influence the brand perception. Meanwhile, customers can evaluate the product independently and intuitively. It can also attract many price-sensitive customers in emerging market, at the same time it is an excellent option to use to enter the developed market.
Furthermore, with research by Belchin Kostov (2014), who points out media companies will receive more than 50% of traffic from the internet shortly, online shopping will be expected to gown substantially and play a significant role in business. Combined with the research by Huang, Y. (2016), the author shows that customers can save more transportation costs and time by mobile devices, electrical products will positively benefit from the online business. Although Pozzi, A. (2012) assumes when a product related to country of origin message and brand information, in-store searching will be used more often than online searching, but according to Verplanken, B. (2006), electrical products still take more advantage in the trend of the mobile technology platform. These researchers further reveal the direction of mobile shopping development, in which electrical products will attract more attention than the previous time.
In a word, electrical products category is appropriate to be used to reveal the effect from a country of origin message and reflect the brand perception over the world. Firstly, combined with the theories of Hofstede’s cultural values, it is a sophisticated model to reveal the relationship between two elements in a scientific view. Meanwhile, country of origin effect is closely related to the cultural background, which means it can directly connect with the Hofstede's model. Finally, because the electrical product is one of the most important product categories in China, and over the world, to some extent it can represent the development of
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most Chinese companies, so no wonder to make a comparison between different company or do the further analysis to Chinese brand itself, electrical product category is a good option.
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3. Conceptual framework, hypotheses, and research methodology 3.1 Main questions
Seth, S. (1999) emphasizes that China's best hope in the second millennium would lie in the increased foreign investment, with more significant technology transfers and increased export. Furthermore, Sara Bongiorni (2005) wrote a book titled "one year without made in
China," which has an extensive influence in the world. Beyond that, Sara approved that the
experiment failed and concluded: "our place in the world and China's place in ours" (p. 227). Most of the products in the experiment focused on the primary relationship between country of origin to purchase intention and brand perception.
However, little research explains the moderator between a country of origin message and brand perception, and few researchers have revealed whether the effect from a country of origin’s message will be changed in different circumstances. This study analyses how brand perception will vary based on various country of the original message in electrical products among customers from a diverse country background. By combining with Hofstede’s cultural dimension and brand resonance model, this research raises a question: how primary brand
element and secondary brand association message, which is moderated by cultural dimension and attitude towards country of origin, will influence the Brand perception,
3.1.1 Explanation of conceptual model
On the one hand, many researchers point out that the expression of different primary and secondary brand element always influence the final brand perception. For example, based on the theory of Scott (2005), a country of origin information affects product judgment more
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directly. Hence, the primary and secondary brand elements are used as an independent variable. On the other hand, Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory concludes that there are five cultural dimensions to explain the different response of people from the diverse cultural background (Hofstede 2010). Meanwhile, because neoliberalism is a project of the capitalist class and it could exert its hegemony in advanced of a capitalist count, as pointed out by these researchers, the changeability from the culture dimension plays a vital role in the future brand construction.
Finally, brand identity, brand meaning, brand response, and brand relationship can explain consumers’ brand perception in four different views, which can reveal and calculate the influence from primary and secondary elements more clearly and comprehensively. Thus, the brand perception acts as a dependent variable in the model.
3.1.2 Conceptual model
H1: Attitude towards the image of a country of origin has a positive correlation with brand perception. H2: Primary brand elements written in Chinese will positively influence a brand identity more than when it is written in English.
H3: Primary brand elements written in Chinese will positively influence a brand meaning more than when it is written in English.
H4: Primary brand elements written in Chinese will positively influence a brand response more than when it is written in English.
H5: Primary brand elements written in Chinese will positively influence a brand relationship more than when it is written in English
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H6: Secondary brand association regard to China will positively influence a brand identity more than when it is written in English.
H7: Secondary brand association regard to China will positively influence a brand meaning more than when it is written in English.
H8: Secondary brand association regard to China will positively influence a brand response more than when it is written in English.
H9: Secondary brand association regard to China will positively influence a brand relationship more than when it is written in English.
H10; A similar cultural dimension among different countries usually causes a same brand perception of a product.
The following model can be used to explain the hypothesis more clearly.
Figure 1: Conceptual model-primary brand element and secondary brand association
In general, this article focuses on the relationship between brand perception from different
Secondary Brand Association Brand Identity Primary Brand Element Cultural Dimension Brand Meaning Brand Response Brand Relationship Attitude Toward Country of Origin
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primary brand element and secondary brand association, and explores how the brand perception is influenced when attitude toward the country image is changed or cultural dimension is different.
3.2 Research methodology
In this chapter, it explains the effect of perceived country of origin on brand perception, including brand identity, brand meaning, brand response, and brand relationship. To be specific, it briefly describes the research, introduces the questionnaire, and finally explains the relationship between dependent variable and independent variable.
3.2.1 Research design
To explore the relationship between the perceived country of origin and brand perception, an online survey which focuses on electrical products is conducted. Three brands including Gree, Lenovo, and Midea are used in the study. All the brands come from China, yet they have different marketing strategy on the use of country of origin effect. Specifically, Gree emphasizes itself as a Chinese company. From its slogan: "Let the world fall in love with things made in China", customers can quickly know that their products come from China. Lenovo uses a different strategy and its brand name combines with English (legend) with Latin (Lenovo). Due to this different branding strategy, most of customers can notice this brand in the market, yet they may always misunderstand it as a European brand. Midea does not emphasize too much on its country of origin. Customers can hardly find any information on its packaging or slogan, which is considered as a neutral brand perception.
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identity, brand meaning, brand response, and brand relationship. Today, the brand perception of products to “Made in China” is diversified. To the electrical product, consumers’ low correct identification is usually beneficial to the Chinese product. Therefore, in this study, Gree represents brand which relates with the perceived country of origin to China, Lenovo represents a brand which relates with a perceived country of origin to the US, and Midea represents a brand with a neutral perceived country of origin.
3.2.2 The questionnaire
The questionnaire consists of four parts. Firstly, respondents were asked about how they feel about primary brand elements between English and Chinese and how a country of origin message plays a role in their brand perception, which occupied the first and second questions in four appendixes. Secondly, respondents saw three pictures of three products written in a different language of advertisements with different country of origin message, which occupied the following twelve questions in each appendix. Beyond that, each survey has randomly arranged the expression of language and country of origin message. To be more specific, respondents were asked to evaluate the product based on attitude scale, revealing how the brand identity (q1, q5, q9) and brand meaning (q2, q6, q10) exist in customers’ mind. Meanwhile, people were asked about what kind of brand response (q3, q7, q11) they have and how brand relationship (q4, q8, q12) plays a role in their mind. Except a picture of each brand and its product, people had not received any other information. From the picture, people can find the name of product and design of the packaging. After researcher collected the essential information from respondents (question I, II, III), respondents would answer how they
30 perceived China and the US (question IV, V).
In the part of “what nationality respondents have”, there are seven options: Germanic peoples (German, Netherlands, and France), Kelt (Scotland, Ireland), Slavic peoples (Russian, Serbs, and Slovenian), Roman (Italy), Mongoloid people (China and Korea), American, and others. These seven groups were chosen to represent “how different cultural dimension influence brand perception.” Meanwhile, these options are full of typical characteristics, so that the result from respondents has a secure connection, but they are independent of each other. Moreover, there is one option for the US because the marketing strategy of Lenovo is pretending as an American brand, Thus, it is necessary to explore how it works in the view of Americans.
Cian (2011) introduced many methods to measure different brand message among customers, such as attitude scale, Q-sort, and natural grouping, etc. In this research, attitude scale is an option, which can be used in various disciplines and easily express subject's brand-related attitude. Furthermore, under the same theory, the brand response is measured by the Likert scale. Each statement is rated on a five-point Likert scale.
3.3.3 Research strategy
In the part of the questionnaire, majority of target respondents are students who study in Europe. Due to the limitation of budget, the data could only reveal an essential relationship between dependent and independent variable. In other words, it can only be used in this specific case. However, the result still shows many scientific conclusions, which can be used to make a more general judgment in the future.
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The survey was shared on social media and sent by mail to other people. Meanwhile, a different study was spread by a link on the internet in the related community. Most people have a different cultural background and they can make a decision rationally. For this reason, the survey is scientific and representative.
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4. Results
In this chapter, the impact exerted by the questionnaire is anatomized to uncover how the perceived effect of country of origin is related to brand perception.
4.1 Sample description
169 responses are overall collected, and 12 responses are incomplete. The survey is provided online, and most questions of which are answered by students at the University of Amsterdam. The overall respondents are comprised of 55% female and 45% male. The respondents are primarily aged between 19 and 25, taking up 87.5%. It is noteworthy that the sample indeed takes on diverse cultural backgrounds as respondents involved are coming from in excess of ten countries worldwide, e.g. European, Asia, and America. As found through racial classification, the respondents are predominately Germanic people (18.45%), with Roman and Mongoloid people ranked behind (16.56% and 17.83%, respectively), and Slavic respondents takes up 15.92%.
Table 1: Species of different culture respondents
Ethnic group Number of people Percentage Countries
Germanic peoples 29 18.45% German, Netherland, Iceland,
Roman 26 16.56% Italy
Slavic people 25 15.92% Russian, Serbs, Slovenian
Celtic people 22 14.04% Ireland,
Mongoloid people 28 17.83% China and Korea
others 27 17.20% US, Canada etc.
4.2 Primary brand element and secondary brand association
Respondents were required to first answer what are their views towards primary brand elements and secondary association. 60% of respondents held disagreement that primary
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English brand element would probably arouse their intention to purchase or good feeling in terms of a strange brand. And yet 75% of people hold a positive attitude towards primary brand elements written in Chinese. Besides, a pronouncement in Chinese shall probably increase the intention purchase. Furthermore, for the message of a country of origin, 72.5% of respondents had disagreement with the perspective that the US is of critical significance in the manufacture of electrical product, in contrast to a product from China, 82.5% of people thought most of the products are being manufactured in China these days and receive a better sale performance.
In conclusion nutshell, as found from the first two question, the results acquired by a primary brand element and secondary brand association vary from China to US, bespeaking that people shall always be impacted unconsciously by the factor relating to country behind a product.
4.3 Scale reliabilities
A brand perception encompasses brand identity, meaning, response and relationship. First and foremost, the real analysis shall be necessarily conducted to examine whether primary brand element influence, secondary brand association and brand perception are consistent with each other. The result of Cronbach's alpha adopted to anatomize the estimator of the internal consistency shall uncover whether all items are identical to each other in one scale measure. Otherwise, it should remove the mistake prior to the examination. It is briefly indicated that all variables take on a Cronbach's alpha=0.92>0.8, bespeaking a high level of internal consistency.
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Table 2: Cronbach's alpha to brand perception Brand identity scale Brand meaning scale Brand response scale Brand relationship scale Primary brand English 0.702 0.785 0.838 0.736 Primary brand China 0.748 0.836 0.855 0.830 Country of origin US 0.689 0.763 0.849 0.735 Country of origin China 0.802 0.859 0.879 0.854
A differential scale shall measure the brand identity encompassing 5 items. This scale takes on a prominent reliability with Cronbach’s alpha as 0.702 for a primary brand element written in English, as 0.748 for the primary brand element presented in Chinese, as 0.689 for secondary brand association associated with US and as 0.802 for secondary brand association relative to China. In secondary brand association taking on brand identity, the deletion of the second item (The quality of same electrical products manufactured in the US are always better than made in other countries) in the secondary brand association would rise Cronbach's alpha to 0.701. In this regard, this item has been deleted. When it comes to another element, the deletion would not cause any difference in excess of 0.1, thus they shall not be changed.
The differential scale is adopted measure a brand meaning comprised of 5 items as well. As this scale is adopted to measure the brand, the specific definition of an object shall be preferentially given with all different meanings to customers. Respondents were asked how they would respond when noticing this brand. As the result generally bespoke, the scale acquires a Cronbach’s alpha as 0.785 for a primary brand element presented in English, as 0.836 for an element given in Chinese, as 0.763 for secondary brand association in US and as 0.859 in China. All these data surmount 0.7, denoting a rational degree of reliabilities for all scales. Furthermore, any deletion of the item shall rise alpha where without evident variation.
35 Accordingly, the deletion shall be unnecessary.
This paper adopted the q-sort (Cian 2011) method to measure a brand response. Respondents saw four keywords and graded the relation of these words to the brand based on their perspective, which was deemed as an expression of brand response. As the result in Cronbach’s alpha indicated, all data relative to brand response surmounted 0.8, and the item deleted shall not make evident improvement. Consequently, this part was concluded to be reliable.
The brand relationship was measured on a Likert scale. On the one hand, the brand relationship is relatively objective, and feelings acquired shall be different with respondent. Respondents were asked about specific attitude associated with the brand and the future intention to purchase. Accordingly, it is attained that in primary brand element and secondary brand association in the US, the result was neither as higher as that of a primary brand element in China nor that of a secondary brand association. Yet as value surmounted 0.7, a high internal consistency is indicated, and the questionnaire was reliable.
4.4 Descriptive statistics and correlations
Through analyzing scale reliabilities, the mean and SD are uncovered in the table below. Lenovo takes on the apparently highest means of brand identity, meaning, response and relationship, with Gree ranked behind, compared to Midea respondents that are more familiar with this brand and have a better brand perception.
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Table 3: Means, standard deviations and correlation
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
As further indicated, gender is not evidently impacted by other dependent variables except the exception of Lenovo brand identity (r=0.032), and age is not correlated with any dependent variables. The brand identity, brand meaning, brand response, and brand
relationship are generally bound by each other in three different brands.
4.5 Hypothesis testing- hierarchical regression without moderator effect
This subchapter tested the hypothesis adopting ANOVA. H2, H3, H4, and H5 mentioned primary brand element presented in Chinese would form a positive brand identity, meaning, response and relationship, respectively. Through analyzing the hierarchical regression, how the independent variable primary brand element and dependent variable brand perception are related can be ascertained. The paper sheds light on how the impact exerted by primary brand element predicts the brand perception under the control of age, gender, and nationality. First and foremost, in the course of the hierarchical multiple regression, two predictors were entered, i.e. age and gender, which were adopted to control the impact exerted by a predictive variable to brand perception.
Mean Std.
Deviation gender age q31 q32 q33 q34 q41 q42 q43 q44 q51 q52 q53 q54 gender 1.5500 .50383 age 2.1250 .33493 -.266 q31 .1250 .82625 .185 -.081 q32 .3000 .63599 .192 .030 .720** q33 3.0315 .74598 -.030 .138 .553** .542** q34 .3625 .63030 .305 .084 .723** .749** .483** q41 .8418 .67086 .340* -.281 .394* .501** .159 .380* q42 .5625 .60909 .178 -.008 .159 .501** .141 .294 .666** q43 3.4438 .70367 -.073 -.078 .222 .393* .397* .134 .271 .483** q44 .6958 .59098 .275 -.127 .360* .570** .121 .397* .748** .740** .435** q51 .0083 .77800 -.170 .291 .319* .385* .354* .331* -.010 .196 .088 .094 q52 .2230 .65334 .021 .192 .485** .559** .475** .582** .148 .141 .123 .216 .641** q53 2.8063 .85013 -.074 .155 .266 .288 .512** .344* -.095 .049 .330* .000 .565** .639** q54 .2563 .55898 -.058 .201 .356* .418** .185 .430** .131 .206 .095 .232 .639** .697** .670** 1 Correlations
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4.5.1 Brand identity
Firstly, the mean brand identity of three products is introduced into the dependent variable, the age and gender are introduced into the first block, while primary brand and secondary brand association are introduced into the second block of independently variable elements on the basis of Hierarchical Multiple Regression. In the first model, the value takes up 0.025 of the variance in the outcome. As the primary brand element and secondary brand association are introduced, it is found that the model explicates the 0.392 of the variability in brand identity. R square change value reaches 0.368, and sig. F change reaches 0.003<0.05, bespeaking the introduction of these four predictor variables greatly contributes to the outcome. In the ANOVA table, P value in model 2 counts as a statistically significant predictor of the issue, reaching less than 0.01. In this regard, this model was a significant predictor of brand identity.
The second step is to evaluat each independent variable to seek out how each variable contributed to the final model, as uncovered in the coefficient table. In the sig column, only secondary brand association relative to China makes a statistically significant and distinctive contribution as the sig value reaches 0.001<0.05. Other variables fail to make an evident contribution. In the meantime, in the Standardized Coefficients column, secondary brand association relative to China make the most significant contribution and that is the mastery score 0.563. In a nutshell, under the controlling for a potential confounding variable by a block pattern, the secondary brand association relative to China is indicated to exert a positive impact on brand identity while there is no other effect appear in primary brand element expressed in Chinese, which approved H6 but invalidate H2.
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Table 4: Hierarchical Multiple Regression-brand identity
Coefficientsa Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig. B Std. Error Beta 1 (Constant) -.026 .704 -.036 .971 gender .171 .179 .161 .958 .344 age .040 .269 .025 .149 .883 2 (Constant) -.155 .626 -.248 .806 gender .144 .161 .136 .893 .378 age .000 .238 .000 -.002 .999 q1_1 .145 .093 .236 1.567 .127 q1_2 .024 .135 .030 .178 .860 q2_1 -.129 .109 -.181 -1.184 .245 q2_2 .473 .135 .563 3.499 .001 a. Dependent Variable: q314151 4.5.2 Brand meaning
Based on Hierarchical Multiple Regression, the brand meaning of three products is introduced into the dependent variable, age and gender are introduced into the first block of independently variable elements, while primary brand and secondary brand association are introduced into the second block. The first step was check R square value. In the first model, the value takes up 0.048 of the variance in the outcome. As the primary brand element and
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secondary brand association are introduced, the model explicates the 0.555 of the variability in brand meaning, as found. R square change value reaches 0.507, and sig.F change reaches 0.001<0.05, accordingly bespeaking that the introduction of these four predictor variables makes a contribution to the outcome. In the ANOVA table, P value in the model is a predictor with statistical significance of the issue, reaching less than 0.01. Accordingly, the model presents a significant predictor of brand meaning.
The second step is to evaluate each independent variable to seek out how each variable contributes to the final model. In the sig column, both the primary brand element related to the US and the secondary brand association relative to China made a statistically significant distinctive contribution as the sig value was less than 0.05, other variables fail to make a significant contribution. In the meantime, as found in the Standardized Coefficients column, primary brand element associated with the US and secondary brand association relative to Chinese makes the largest contribution, with the mastery score of 0.311 and 0.569. Briefly, the primary brand element presented in English and secondary brand association relative to China are indicated to exert a positive impact brand meaning under the controlling for a potential confounding variable by a block pattern, bespeaking H3 is not fulfilled whereas H7 is approved.
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4.5.3 Brand response
A brand response of three products is introduced into the dependent variable, age and gender are introduced into the first block of independently variable elements, while primary brand and secondary brand association are introduced into the second block on the basis of Hierarchical Multiple Regression. The first step is to check R square value, and the value takes on 0.013 of the variance in the outcome. As the block two variables are accessed, the model explicates 0.031 of the variability in brand response. In the value of R square change, the value is 0.318 and sig. F change reaches 0.01<0.05, bespeaking that it makes evident
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contribution, thus the introduction of these four predictor variables greatly contributes the outcome. Then in the ANOVA table, sig value in the model 2 has a statistically significant predictor of the outcome, surmounting 0.01, thus indicating the model is not an evident predictor of brand response.
In conclusion nutshell, the primary brand element and the secondary brand association are indicated to exert not impact on brand response under the controlling for a potential confounding variable by a block pattern, so that neither H4 nor H8 is fulfilled.
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4.5.4 Brand relationship
The mean of the brand relationship of three products are introduced into the dependent variable, age and gender are introduced into the first block of independently variable
elements, while primary brand and secondary brand association are introduced into the second block on the basis of Hierarchical Multiple Regression. It is indicated through checking R square value that the value takes up 0.076 of the variance in the outcome. As the block two variables are accessed, the model explicates the 0.503 of the variability in brand relationship, as found. In the value of R square change, the value reaches 0.428 and sig.F change is 0.01<0.05, bespeaking it is an evident contribution. Accordingly, the introduction of these four predictor variables contributes the outcome. In the ANOVA table, p-value in the model is a predictor with statistical significance of the outcome, reaching under 0.01. In this regard, this model counts as an evident predictor of brand relationship.
The second step is to evaluate each independent variable to seek out how each variable contributes to the final model, as listed in the coefficient table. In the sig column, merely secondary brand association relative to China makes a distinctive contribution of statistical significance as the sig value reaches under 0.05, and other variables fail to make an evident
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contribution. In the meantime, as found in the Standardized Coefficients column, the
secondary brand association relative to China makes the most evident contribution, with the mastery score as 0.536. To sum up, it revealed secondary brand association relative to China shall exert a positive influence brand relationship, while a primary brand element in Chinese exerts no impact on brand relationship under the controlling for a potential confounding variable by a block pattern. Accordingly, H9 is confirmed, whereas H5 is disagreed with, as concluded.
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4.6 The moderator effect between cultural dimension and brand perception
As H10 indicates, people taking on identical cultural dimension shall have identical preference in brand identity, brand meaning, brand response and brand relationship. As the theory states, the awareness of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism or collectivism, masculine or feminality and long-term or short-term orientation shall vary from one country to another. To examine the hypothesis, people taking on an identical cultural dimension are assumed to have a similar preference, as stated by Hofstede's theory. Mixed ANOVA is adopted to uncover the interaction between brand perception and nationality; the brand perception counts as a within-subject factor, and nationality is deemed as a between-subject factor.
4.6.1 Brand identity
Value of Mauchly's test is firstly checked. The hypothesis of the analysis is fulfilled for the test being not evident (P=0.147). Besides the sphericity hypothesis, each group is
equivalent in the variance of brand identity value, as revealed in the Levine’s test of equality of error variances. The results of Gree and Mieda are not evident, and the hypothesis is
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fulfilled at two different products. Yet the value for Lenovo is evident p=0.002, bespeaking that the hypothesis of homogeneity of variance has been violated. In this regard, equal difference is not assumed to Lenovo.
Moving to the within-subject effect, it is indicated from Mauchly's test that the result assumed for the analysis is of statistical significance for brand identity (p<0.01). It is
accordingly bespoken that the brand identity is changed over time across different products. Yet the interaction effect between brand identity and nationality is not of statistical
significance p=0.054>0.05, bespeaking that the differences in brand identity across different products are equivalent to those across nationality. As indicated from the test of a between-subject effect, the brand identity across shall evidently vary with nationality, p=0.01, F(6,33)=3.41, bespeaking that different nationalities are of statistical significance on brand identity.
As indicated from the Post hoc tests, the nationality is apparently different from each other. Seven nationalities are acquired, and the primary effect is of statistical significance, which bespeaks that at least one pair of nationality differs from each other. As presented from the result, p-value of Slavic people and Mongoloid people are less than 0.05, bespeaking they are of statistical significance. In this regard, Slavic people and Mongoloid people have a statistically significant change in brand identity.
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Table 8: Mixed ANOVA analysis-brand identity
Tests of Within-Subjects Effects
Measure:MEASURE_1 Source
Type III Sum of
Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Partial Eta Squared Noncent. Parameter Observed Powera BI Sphericity Assumed 10.343 2 5.171 13.342 .000 .288 26.683 .997 Greenhouse-Geisser 10.343 1.797 5.755 13.342 .000 .288 23.978 .994 Huynh-Feldt 10.343 2.000 5.171 13.342 .000 .288 26.683 .997 Lower-bound 10.343 1.000 10.343 13.342 .001 .288 13.342 .943 BI * nationality Sphericity Assumed 8.726 12 .727 1.876 .054 .254 22.511 .852 Greenhouse-Geisser 8.726 10.784 .809 1.876 .062 .254 20.229 .818 Huynh-Feldt 8.726 12.000 .727 1.876 .054 .254 22.511 .852 Lower-bound 8.726 6.000 1.454 1.876 .115 .254 11.256 .610
Error(BI) Sphericity Assumed 25.583 66 .388
Greenhouse-Geisser 25.583 59.309 .431
Huynh-Feldt 25.583 66.000 .388
Lower-bound 25.583 33.000 .775
a. Computed using alpha = .05
Multiple Comparisons
Measure:MEASURE_1 (I)
nationality (J) nationality
Mean Difference
(I-J) Std. Error Sig.
95% Confidence Interval
Lower Bound Upper Bound
Tukey HSD 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 2.00 -.0972 .24077 1.000 -.8525 .6581 3.00 .4776 .25481 .511 -.3218 1.2769 4.00 -.1944 .35712 .998 -1.3148 .9259 5.00 -.5529 .20533 .132 -1.1971 .0912 6.00 .1181 .27452 .999 -.7431 .9792 7.00 .0278 .30455 1.000 -.9276 .9832 3.00 .5748 .27662 .389 -.2930 1.4426 4.00 -.0972 .37300 1.000 -1.2673 1.0729 5.00 -.4557 .23185 .454 -1.1830 .2716 6.00 .2153 .29488 .990 -.7098 1.1403 7.00 .1250 .32303 1.000 -.8884 1.1384 4.00 -.6720 .38221 .584 -1.8710 .5270 5.00 -1.0305* .24640 .003 -1.8034 -.2575 6.00 -.3595 .30645 .899 -1.3209 .6019 7.00 -.4498 .33362 .824 -1.4964 .5968 5.00 -.3585 .35117 .945 -1.4601 .7432 6.00 .3125 .39563 .984 -.9286 1.5536 7.00 .2222 .41703 .998 -1.0860 1.5305 6.00 .6710 .26673 .187 -.1658 1.5077 7.00 .5807 .29755 .463 -.3527 1.5141 7.00 -.0903 .34891 1.000 -1.1848 1.0043
Based on observed means.
The error term is Mean Square(Error) = .209. *. The mean difference is significant at the .05 level.
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Tests of Between-Subjects Effects
Measure:MEASURE_1 Transformed Variable: Average
Source
Type III Sum
of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Partial Eta Squared Noncent. Parameter Observed Powera 5.733 1 5.733 9.157 .005 .217 9.157 .836 nationality 12.814 6 2.136 3.411 .010 .383 20.466 .891 Error 20.661 33 .626
a. Computed using alpha = .05
4.6.2 Brand meaning
Mauchly’s test is examined firstly. The hypothesis of the test is not fulfilled as the test is significant and p-value reaches 0.041<0.05. Besides the sphericity hypothesis, a variance of brand meaning value is indicated to be equivalent in each group, as uncovered in the Levine’s test of equality of error variances. None of the product is evident, and the hypothesis is fulfilled with three different products, as found. Accordingly, brand meaning and nationality take on significant difference (p=0.136)
Through testing the within-subject effect, Mauchly's test indicated there for brand meaning is statistically significant, bespeaking that sphericity is violated, thus checking the value of Greenhouse-Geisser p=0.096. The interaction effect between brand meaning and nationality is not statistically significant, P=0.343>0.05, which indicates that the differences in brand meaning across different products were equivalent to those across nationality. As founded in the test of between-subject effect, the brand meaning across various nationalities take on a significant difference, P=0.017, F(6,33)=3.054. It is accordingly bespoken that different nationalities take on statistical significance on brand meaning. Which nationality is significantly different from each other is indicated in Post hoc tests. There are seven
