The Moderating Role of Country of Origin on Brand Equity, Repeat Purchase Intentions, and Word of Mouth in Trinidad and Tobago

Purpose Despite the large number of studies on country of origin, little is known about the effects of state-level product origin information on consumer attitudes and purchase intentions. Likewise, little is known about when the state-of-origin (SOO) information enhances, has no effect or has a negative effect on consumer attitudes and purchase intentions. Primarily drawing on the country-of-origin literature, this study aims to examine the influence of SOO label information and the moderating role of state residency. Design/methodology/approach To test five hypotheses, the authors conducted a survey (Study 1) and an experiment (Study 2). The analyses included content analysis, regression and ANOVA. Findings The findings show that for certain products, moderate-to-strong product–state associations exist. However, when the associations are weak, consumers show bias for products made in their (vs other) states. The findings also show that when consumers evaluate their state products, normative (vs cognitive) reasons drive their attitudes, but that when they assess products from states other than their state of residency, cognitive (vs normative) reasons drive attitudes. Additionally, economic sustainability seems a powerful motivator for buying products made in their state of residency. Practical implications Companies should take advantage of positive biases for their products in the states in which they produce products. However, when companies market their products outside their states of production, in some cases, they should consider deemphasizing SOO information unless there is a strong product–state association present among consumers outside of the state. Originality/value This paper adds value by providing new insights for designing product origin labeling programs. Suggestions for future research and marketing strategies for practitioners who want to use SOO as a branding strategy are offered.

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Impact of brand equity on purchase intentions: empirical evidence from the health takāful industry of the United Arab Emirates

ISRA International Journal of Islamic Finance ◽

10.1108/ijif-07-2019-0105 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Shahid Rizwan ◽

Husam-Aldin Al-Malkawi ◽

Kamisan Gadar ◽

Ilham Sentosa ◽

Naziruddin Abdullah

Keyword(s):

United Arab Emirates ◽

Brand Equity ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Purchase Intentions ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Content Type ◽

The Impact ◽

Moderating Role

Purpose Although 76% of the population of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is Muslim, takāful (Islamic insurance) has a much smaller share of business in the UAE than conventional insurance does. The purpose of this study is to highlight the importance of brand equity (BE), which is known as the incremental value that provides reason to buy a brand. This study provides useful insights that can help the health takāful industry to gain a feasible market share in the UAE. Design/methodology/approach This is a quantitative study in which stratified random sampling was adopted for data collection from 300 respondents through a self-administered questionnaire from August to November 2018. Underpinning the study is the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique has been used to examine the impact of BE on purchase intentions (PI) through the moderating role of demographic factors such as age, income, education and religion. Three dimensions of BE, i.e. brand awareness (BAW), brand association (BAS) and perceived quality (PQ), are evaluated in terms of their significance as dimensions of BE. Findings The major findings of this study confirm that BE has a strong positive influence on the PIs of health takāful customers in the UAE and that all three dimensions of BE make significant contributions to the overall BE. The results show that education does moderate the relationship between BE and PI while age, income and religion do not. A new finding of this study is the nonsignificant moderating role of religion, whereby it was found that takāful products in the UAE are not limited to Muslim customers but can include potential customers who are followers of other religions. Originality/value To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first of its kind to examine the impact of BE on the PI of health takāful customers in the UAE. The findings of the study give academia, researchers and marketers a better understanding of the importance of BE and of its vital role in promoting takāful products in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries such as the UAE.

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Analisis Pengaruh Ekuitas Merek, Preferensi Merek, dan Harga Dengan Citra Negara Asal sebagai Variabel Moderasi Terhadap Minat Pembelian Laptop Oleh Mahasiswa di Kota Batam

Jurnal Manajemen dan Bisnis Indonesia ◽

10.31843/jmbi.v4i2.119 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 211-226

Author(s):

Lily Purwianti ◽

Mehdar Badrus Zaman

Keyword(s):

Brand Equity ◽

Purchase Intention ◽

Country Of Origin ◽

Brand Preference ◽

Independent Variables ◽

Price Data ◽

Country Of Origin Image ◽

Moderating Role ◽

Program Version

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among brand equity, brand preference, price and purchase intention. Moreover secondary aim of this research is examining the moderate role of country of origin image. Independent variables used in this research are brand equity, brand preference and price. Data were collected from 500 students in Batam who recognized the selected brand of laptop using judgmental sampling from 5 universities they are Universitas Putera Batam, Universitas Riau Kepulauan, Politeknik Negeri Batam, Universitas Internasional Batam, and Universitas Batam. Hypotheses were tested using SPSS program version 21. Results indicated that brand equity, brand preference and price positively influence consumerâ€™s purchase intention. But results unsupported moderating role of country of origin image in the relationships among brand equity, brand preference and purchase intention. Keywords: brand equity, brand preference, price, country of origin and purchase intention.

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Understanding the relationships between social media influencers and their followers: the moderating role of closeness

Journal of Product & Brand Management ◽

10.1108/jpbm-03-2019-2292 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (6) ◽

pp. 767-782 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Brian J. Taillon ◽

Steven M. Mueller ◽

Christine M. Kowalczyk ◽

Daniel N. Jones

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Word Of Mouth ◽

Qualitative Content Analysis ◽

Purchase Intentions ◽

Future Research ◽

Student Sample ◽

Content Type ◽

Negative Effect ◽

Moderating Role

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to better understand the role of closeness and the relationships between social media influencers and their followers, and, more specifically, how social media influencers can effectively manage their human brands. Design/methodology/approach Two studies were conducted to explore social media influencers. Qualitative content analysis and modeling with path analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings Results found attractiveness and likeability to positively predict attitudes toward the influencer, word-of-mouth and purchase intentions, whereas similarity only predicted word-of-mouth from the follower. Closeness served as a moderator but had different effects. Closeness positively moderated the effect of attractiveness on purchase intentions; however, it had a negative effect with similarity on purchase intentions. Moreover, closeness moderated the effect of likeability on attitude toward the influencer. Research limitations/implications This study was limited by the student sample as well as the students’ self-identification of a social media influencer. Future research should include experimental design manipulating well-known/followed or fictional social media influencers on different social media. Practical implications This paper explores the characteristics of social media influencers as well as the potential outcomes associated with influencers on social media. The implications for marketers and advertisers include a better understanding of how consumers engage with influencers on social media. Originality/value The role of closeness is identified as a moderator of consumers’ behaviors toward social media influencers.

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Impact of country of origin and word of mouth on brand equity

Marketing Intelligence & Planning ◽

10.1108/mip-04-2013-0073 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 32 (5) ◽

pp. 616-629 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Sri Murtiasih ◽

Sucherly Sucherly ◽

Hotniar Siringoringo

Keyword(s):

Brand Equity ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Word Of Mouth ◽

Country Of Origin ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Validity And Reliability ◽

Content Type ◽

Brand Association ◽

Different Order

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of the image of country of origin (COO) and word of mouth (WOM) toward brand equity (BE). Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaire was deployed to collect data. Prior to data collection, validity, and reliability tests were performed. Valid and reliable questionnaire was distributed to car customer in Jabodetabek region. It was succeeded to distribute 389 questionnaires and completely filled up by respondents. Structural equation modeling further was deployed to analyze the data. Findings – COO and WOM significantly influence BE indirectly thorough BE dimensions. WOM exhibited stronger influence toward BE. The influence of COO and WOM toward BE dimension was also investigated. WOM showed stronger influence toward BE dimension, in descending order are brand loyalty (BL), brand association (BAS), perceived quality (PQ), and brand awareness (BA). COO showed weaker influence and different order, in descending order are BA, PQ, BL, and BAS. Originality/value – Role of WOM in marketing has been extensively discussed by researchers. It is generally acknowledged playing a considerable role in influencing and forming consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions. However, up to this date role of WOM on BE has not been explicitly studied by researchers. COO in another hand has been related to BE although in a limited references. Those studies were performed outside of Indonesian consumer. Up to this date study of COO of Indonesian consumer behavior remains unaccounted.

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