This study started with the premise that the construct of country-of-origin image is separate and distinct from the concept of product image, with which it should not be confused, and theorized that such a construct could be at the root of consumers' biases against foreign products. The study also argued that the past literature on country-of-origin biases focused almost exclusively on product images, thus leaving unanswered at least two important questions: (a) what is the nature of the country-of-origin construct? and (b) how can this construct be accurately measured? / Given the potential explanatory power of this construct to better understand the country-of-origin bias phenomenon, and given the absence of studies devoted to this topic in the present marketing literature, it was decided that the major objective of this dissertation was to develop a psychometrically sound measure of the construct of country-of-origin image. / To accomplish this purpose, Churchill's approach to scale development was adopted, with some modifications. A forty item scale describing a country-of-origin image for three countries (Iran, Canada, and Japan) along four hypothesized dimensions (culture, political system, level of economic development, and level of technological/product superiority) was mailed to respondents as part of a questionnaire. Their answers were submitted to an exploratory and a confirmatory factor analysis procedure. At the same time, the internal consistency of the scale was determined via the computation of coefficient alpha, and its convergent and discriminant validity were also assessed. / Results showed that respondents evaluated a country-of-origin image along two dimensions only (culture/ political system, and level of economic/technological development), and that the original 40 item scale could be reduced to a 13 item scale. This more parsimonious scale exhibited satisfactory levels of internal consistency reliability. In addition, its degree of convergent validity was shown to be acceptable, while its degree of discriminant validity was also acceptable, except in the case of Japan. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-12, Section: A, page: 4199. / Major Professor: J. Dennis White. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_78371 |
| Contributors | Desborde, Rene Daniel., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 181 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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