Effect of Country of Manufacture and Brand Image on Iranian Customers’ Purchase Intention Case Study: Foreign Made Home Appliances

Abstract

With the removal of trade barriers between countries and spread of network mechanisms, today’s world is witness to globalization of international trade which, in a sense, is equivalent to establishment of multinational companies and consumers’ direct encounter with the products of these companies. As a result, facing a large volume of products manufactured in various countries around the world, consumers would have to turn to important information sources and symbols in an effort to simplify their buying decisions and to ensure they have made correct decisions. Country of manufacture (COM) and product brand image are among the established information symbols which customers have come to rely on. In other words, country of manufacture and brand image can play a significant role in the acceptance of a product by consumers. Moreover, international producers are well aware that country of manufacture and brand image are counted on as distinctive features of products. For this reason, they take sufficient care in selecting the country which is to manufacture their products and, thus, try to create a favorable mental image of their brand in their customers. A theoretical framework was proposed in the present study to describe the effects of country of manufacture and brand image on customers’ decision to buy. Although the influencing factors of “country of manufacture” and “brand image” depend on the specific product type, the findings in this study showed that, in general, brand image had a stronger influence than country of manufacture on Iranian customers as far as hybrid products were concerned.

Keywords: Country of manufacture (COM), brand image, quality dimensions, purchase attitude, purchase intention