Assembly and component origin effects: an ASEAN consumer perspective

Purpose – Set in the newly emerging hybrid product research stream, and reflecting trends towards multi‐national production and sourcing, this paper aims to present a three‐country study on perceived quality and image of automobiles “made in and for” Southeast Asia. Design/methodology/approach – The authors used a multiple cue design in the stimulus definition, reflecting assembly and component origin plus warranty level. Actual car owners were targeted, thereby adding to a relatively low number of studies requiring actual prior purchase. The related face‐to‐face interviews in the local languages resulted in 720 usable questionnaires. Findings – Country‐of‐assembly is shown to affect perceived quality as well as perceived image. Warranty extension can moderate the quality effects to some extent, whilst buyers of luxury models display a smaller positive home bias in terms of perceived image than those of non‐luxury models. Such home region bias is not demonstrated to be significant for country‐of‐components. Research limitations/implications – The paper contributes towards ongoing theory‐building, especially with regards to an optimum level of origin cue decomposition. It also establishes the importance of adding image perception measurement to the arsenal of origin researchers normally focused on quality effects. Practical implications – Managers need to make strategic decisions on the decomposition of product origin cues, reflecting consumers' abilities to notice several such cues. The selected product origin cues must then be supported with appropriate communications strategies. Originality/value – For the first time, origin effects are demonstrated for the Southeast Asia region. The paper establishes the significance of country‐of‐target and contributes to research on the ever more complex product origin construct.