A comparative analysis of dimensions of COO and animosity on industrial buyers’ attitudes and intentions

Pages832-846
Published date19 November 2018
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-10-2017-1625
Date19 November 2018
AuthorHakim Meshreki,Christine Ennew,Maha Moustafa Mourad
Subject MatterMarketing,Product management,Brand management/equity
A comparative analysis of dimensions of COO
and animosity on industrial buyersattitudes
and intentions
Hakim Meshreki
The American University in Cairo, Egypt
Christine Ennew
University of Warwick, UK, and
Maha Moustafa Mourad
Department of Management, The American University in Cairo, Egypt
Abstract
Purpose Country of origin (COO) is well established as an extrinsic product cue that inuences buyer behavior in the business-to-business
(B2B) context. However, non-product-specic attitudes to a COO, including the notion of animosity, have received rather less attention.
This paper aims to investigate COO as a multi-dimensional construct and animosity as a normative dimension of buyersattitudes and
intentions.
Design/methodology/approach The work is based on data collected from industrial buyers in Egypt and Canada to enable a comparative
perspective between developing and developed countries. Structural equation modeling was used to test the studys hypotheses.
Findings Country of manufacture was an antecedent of perceived quality and a determinant of brand evaluation in both countries. Price was an
antecedent of perceived risk and value in Egypt, while its impact on perceived risk was less pronounced in Canada. Perceived value was the
strongest determinant of willingness to buy, while animosity played a signicant role in this respect in Canada but not in Egypt.
Research limitations/implications Country of brand was not included as a dimension to be investigated; industry type was not con trolled and
may confound the results; and generalization of the results is limited given the cross-sectiona l approach.
Originality/value The studys contribution lies in four main elements, viewed individually and in combination: investigating a large number of
COO constructs that have not been studied within a single research context in B2B before; including the animosity construct in a B2B setting;
contrasting benet receivedand sacrice givenconstructs that help to shape industrial buyerspurchase decisions; and carrying out the
research in two very different countries to help improve the generalizability of results.
Keywords Perceived risk, Brand evaluation, Country image, Place image, Country of manufacture, Perceived value, Country animosity,
Country of design, Country of origin dimensions
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Buyer animosity toward providers based on their country of
origin (COO), and its impact on purchase behavior (Roth and
Diamantopoulos, 2009), is a notion that has been almost
exclusively(Gineikiene and Diamantopoulos, 2017, p. 993)
studied in B2C contexts (Edwards et al., 2007). Basedon their
consumer study, Kleinet al. (1998,p.90)dened the construct
asthe remnants of antipathy related to previous or on-going
political or economic events.This paper examines whether the
theories that inform these studies are also applicable to
business-to-business (B2B) markets and specically whether
buyersperceptions of a particular country may impact on
purchase decisions. It has been argued that as the buying
behavior of these two types of buyers is different, the empirical
ndings from consumer research may not be readily applicable
to industrial buyers. In addition to the widely discussed
differences related to the nature of the buying process, the role
of the buying center and thatnature of the purchase as a derived
demand, it has also been suggested that the concept and
dimensions of quality differ between industrial buyers and end
consumers (Questeret al., 2000). Furthermore, it is argued that
industrial buyers tend to focus on costs, performance and
quality issues, whereas consumers may be more likely to focus
on brand characteristics such as aesthetics, prestige and
symbolism (Ahmedet al.,1994).
To properly assess the impact of animosity its role is
evaluated in the context of a range of intrinsic and extrinsic
product cues. Buyer evaluationsof a brand are believed to have
an important role to play for many product categories,
particularly so where the brand can reduce perceived risk and
ease information search (Backhaus et al., 2011). In
cross-national buying decisions, perceptions may be
augmented by the evaluation of a companys products or the
brands COO. Empirical work on such evaluations has been
dominated by studies of retailconsumers, while there has been
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
27/7 (2018) 832846
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-10-2017-1625]
832

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