Relative importance of country of service delivery, country of person and country of brand in hybrid service evaluation: a conjoint analysis approach
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-10-2017-1608 |
| Published date | 19 November 2018 |
| Pages | 819-831 |
| Date | 19 November 2018 |
| Author | Daniel Tumpal Hamonangan Aruan,Roberta Crouch,Pascale Quester |
| Subject Matter | Marketing,Product management,Brand management/equity |
Relative importance of country of service
delivery, country of person and country of
brand in hybrid service evaluation:
a conjoint analysis approach
Daniel Tumpal Hamonangan Aruan
Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia, Indonesia
Roberta Crouch
College of Business, Government and Law, Flinders University, Australia, and
Pascale Quester
Adelaide Business School, The University of Adelaide, Australia
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to examine the relative importance of country of brand (COB), country of service delivery (COSD) and country of pe rson
(COP) in consumer evaluation of hybrid services.
Design/methodology/approach –Using data (N= 1,071) from Australia, Indonesia and Singapore, a conjoint analysis experimental design
explored empirically the importance of country of origin (COO) effects in three service contexts: search, experience and credence.
Findings –The analysis reveals that the relative importance of COP was the highest for credence services, while COB was the strongest for
experience services.
Practical implications –For firms operating offshore, companies must understand that the COO construct is multi-dimensional for services, as it is
for tangible products and not limited only to COB as traditionally thought. At least two other distinct dimensions –COSD and COP –can play
significant roles as predictors of service quality expectations. Companies must consider the implications of service type, accord ing to the search-
experience-credence continuum to inform staffing decisions and managing customer expectations.
Originality/value –This research contributes to the literature by extending the understanding of country image effects in the context of hybrid
service provisions, particularly in the view of customer expectations of services with multiple country-of-origins. Although there hav e been several
studies examining the effects of COO on services evaluation, no empirical study has examined the effects of multiple COOs simultaneously from the
perspective of location where the service is delivered (COSD) and individuals who deliver the service (COP), in addition to the effect of COB origin.
Keywords Service marketing, Service quality, Country image, Conjoint analysis, Country of origin effect, Credence service
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The pressure of global competitionhas made many companies
look for ways to reduce costs and secure market opportunities.
With declining trends in trade barriers and import tariffs, as a
consequence of free trade practices, many companies today
execute offshoring strategies to achieve such objectives.
Offshoring,a strategy conductedby relocating of some business
operations to alternative countries where costs (e.g. labor) are
considerably cheaper, has become the preferred alternative by
companies in order to reduce costs, allocate resources more
efficiently and/or bring the companies closer to their markets
(Blinder, 2006). For example, a TV brand based in the US
might manufacture in the Philippines,China and/or India, with
components sourced from China and Indonesia;the results are
so-called “hybrid”products.
Prior studies focused on hybrid products reveal that each
country associated with the product has a distinct effect on
consumers’perceptions of product quality, revealing several
distinct country of origin (COO) dimensions such as: country
of design (COD), country of manufacture (COM), country of
assembly (COA) and country of brand (COB) (Insch and
McBride, 2004;Hamzaoui-Essoussi and Merunka, 2007).
They found that consumers’perceptions of quality change
when a product is manufactured or designed in a country
different from its brand origin. For example, products with a
COB from a developed country, but manufactured in a less
developed countrywith an inferior country image, may suffer in
terms of perceptions of quality despite positive COO
associationsfor the brand itself (Akdeniz Ar and Kara, 2014).
In the services context, many internationalservice firms also
use offshore delivery strategies, such as overseascall centers, to
strengthen their competitiveness via close proximity to
customers, cost efficiencies or access to skilled personnel
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) 819–831
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-10-2017-1608]
819
To continue reading
Request your trial