Multidimensional structures of brand and country images and their effect on product evaluation

Marketers are interested in how consumers perceive product cues in order to build an appropriate marketing-mix. Country and brand images are some of the cues proven to be of significant impact on consumer behavior. This paper studies country and brand image multi-dimensional structures across several brands, countries, and products. A model relating country image to brand image and then to product evaluation was built with country and brand image as multi-dimensional concepts. A within-subject intercultural investigation serves as a basis for data collection (1400 consumers). The investigation was done in Japan, France, and Tunisia. Three products were investigated with three brands for each product: computer (Dell, Sony, and Acer) hand cream (Shiseido, Nivea, and L’Oreal) and sport shoes (Nike, Asics, and Le coq sportif). Results show a conjoint effect of country and brand images on product evaluation in addition to their separate effects. Country image structures differ across countries and influence differently product evaluation. Similarly, brand image structures differ across brands, across countries and across products.