Myung-Soo Jo

The shielding effects of brand image against lower quality countries-of-origin in global manufacturing

Abstract Two studies are conducted, based on the framework of accessibility–diagnosticity and information integration. The goals of these studies are to examine the protective effects of brand image against lower quality countries-of-origin in global manufacturing. Study 1 shows that brands with high familiarity and high quality reputations (called strong brands hereafter) have much smaller perceived-quality discounting for lower quality countries-of-origin than brands with mediocre familiarity and mediocre quality reputations ( weak brands hereafter). Study 2, conducted with a different set of brands and consumers from a different country, shows similar shielding effects of brand image as found in Study 1. The findings of judgment-weight allocation of Study 2 strongly support the hypotheses of accessibility–diagnosticity and information integration, explaining why the shielding effects of brand image occur. The authors discuss implications of the findings, especially with regard to the global manufacturing/country-of-origin management, and the brand management for strong and weak brands.

A Model for Controlling Social Desirability Bias by Direct and Indirect Questioning

This study develops a model for controlling social desirability bias in self-report measures. The model incorporates both direct and indirect questioning for a sensitive construct and takes into account method variance of direct and indirect questioning via method factors. The study tests the model with data containing a socially sensitive construct, and finds that the model effectively controls social desirability bias. The rationale for employing both direct and indirect questioning and implications of the findings are discussed.

Cross-Cultural Differences of Price-Perceived Quality Relationships

Abstract To determine whether prices cause different levels of perceived quality, the authors survey consumers from two countries (Australia and Japan) that differ greatly in their cultural values. The findings show dramatic differences in the price-perceived quality relationships between the two countries: Varying prices of unbranded tourism packages cause much greater corresponding perceived quality differences for Japanese consumers than for Australian consumers. Japanese consumers perceive much higher quality for high prices and much lower quality for low prices, whereas Australian consumers demonstrate no corresponding changes in perceived quality but instead perceive higher quality for a moderately lowered price and lower quality for increased prices. The authors discuss implications for international pricing and price promotion strategies and the product categories to which such strategies should be targeted.

Contingency and contextual issues of ethnocentrism‐pitched advertisements

This study examines whether consumers’ receptivity to ethnocentrism‐pitched advertisements differs by country and product category and, if so, why. The two countries surveyed are Australia and India. Australia was chosen as a country where consumers should perceive a high level of foreign threat because it is quite open to foreign products and has a small economy and population. India was chosen as a country where consumers should perceive a low level of foreign threat because it is still tightly closed to foreign products. Findings show that the effectiveness of ethnocentrism‐pitched advertisements differs significantly not only by consumers’ perceptions of foreign threat, but also by consumers’ quality evaluations about domestic products, compared to corresponding foreign ones. Implications for international marketers and domestic manufacturers are discussed.

Can Experiences With a Country's Foods Improve Images of That Country?

ABSTRACT This study examines how experience with other countries’ foods affects peoples images of those countries, as well as the strength of such images. The findings show that foods are effective cultural elements that can enhance country images. People who have eaten a countrys foods reveal more favorable country images than those who lack such experiences. Country images are even more favorable when people have more positive and many food experiences. Furthermore, positive country image effects are greater for people in opposite-hemisphere countries than for those in neighboring countries. Finally, people who prefer certain attributes of a countrys foods provide more favorable ratings for related product attributes from that country, indicating affect transfer from food experiences to other product categories. These findings have key implications, especially for policy makers and researchers who seek effective ways to improve country images.

Social value, content value, and brand equity in social media brand communities: A comparison of Chinese and US consumers

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of culture, personality, and motivation on social and content value, which in turn affect brand equity in social media brand community (SMBC) setting.,Online surveys were conducted with 595 SMBC participants in China and the USA. AMOS is used in SEM analysis.,Consumers with collectivistic, extroverted, and extrinsic orientation experience social value through social media participation. In contrast, consumers with individualistic and intrinsic orientation demonstrate content value. Furthermore, Chinese consumers show more social value and the US consumers more content value. Accordingly, the effect of social value (content value) on brand equity is stronger for Chinese (US) consumers.,Culture was assessed only by individualism/collectivism, personality by extroversion/introversion and motivation by extrinsic/intrinsic. Future research should verify external generalizability beyond China and the USA.,Enhanced social and content value through consumers’ social media participation can increase brand equity. Thus, companies should motivate consumers to experience more value via social media participation, and, cultivate a multicultural climate and facilitate the exchange of culture.,First, this research redefines customer value into two components: social and content value. Second, this paper is the first to investigate the antecedents (i.e. culture, personality, and motivation) and the consequence (i.e. brand equity) of customer value in social media community settings. Third, this study illustrates differences in social media customer value experiences of Chinese vs US consumers.

The supply and demand sides of corruption: Canadian extractive companies in Africa

ABSTRACT With the rapid expansion of Canadian investment in extractives around the world, it is perhaps not surprising that Canada’s reputation as a low-corruption country has faltered: Canada currently ranks ninth internationally in Transparency International (TI)’s corruption perception index, down from sixth in 2010, and sixth, down from first (i.e. best), in 2009 in TI’s Bribe Payers index. This article presents the preliminary findings of our ongoing research regarding both the demand side (that is, the request for bribes, principally by foreign officials) and the supply side (that is, the giving of bribes, principally by corporations) of corruption. We have examined Canadian mining companies operating in Ghana and Burkina Faso and have identified 10 “tensions” which need to be acknowledged in public policy formulation. We note that Canada is implementing policies to reduce supply-side corruption (e.g. by adopting anti-bribery legislation and guidelines for corporate social responsibility) but recommend that more be done, especially oversight of anti-corruption laws by Parliament. We also recommend that mining companies undertake ex-ante corruption risk assessment and develop proactive corporate anti-corruption policies. And, finally, while host countries have anti-corruption laws, implementation is weak. Global affairs could usefully support stronger parliamentary oversight in these countries.

Individualist vs. Collectivist Cultures: Shopping for Prestige in Australia

This study compared the shopping patterns of two types of consumers within that Australian population—those conditioned by collectivist societies (Asian-born) and those conditioned by an individualist society (Australian-born). We hypothesised that consumers from collectivist societies are more prone to express their individuality and identity through the material acquisition of prestige goods than consumers from an individualist society. Data from the Roy Morgan Research syndicated survey of consumers were examined for three types of consumer behaviour: stores patronised for clothing purchases, stores used for the purchase of furnishings, and type of car currently owned. The findings indicate that Australian consumers originating from collectivist cultures have a stronger tendency to patronise prestige stores and drive upscale types of cars than Australian consumers who were born in their individualist nation. This pattern of consumer association with more prestigious stores is quite apparent even when income effects are held constant

Social value and content value in social media: Two paths to psychological well-being

ABSTRACT The unique characteristics and universal popularity of social media enable consumers to experience their customer value and thus improve their psychological well-being. Hence, it is important for researchers to investigate how consumers experience their customer value in this new media and demonstrate how managers can use the ensuing knowledge for designing appropriate marketing strategies. This article is a step toward that direction. We explore the antecedents and consequences of customer value in social media so as to provide a deeper insight into consumer behavior and subsequently discuss its managerial implications. Specifically, we develop a model that incorporates psychological well-being as the endogenous variable, interdependence self-construal and independent self-construal as exogenous variables, and social value, content value, social identity, self-esteem, and flow as mediating variables. Based on data from a sample of 437 social media consumers collected by an online survey and through analysis of the data by SPSS 22.0 and Amos 22.0 programs, the study revealed that consumers can gain psychological well-being by either of two paths: consumers with a higher degree of interdependent self-construal will have a higher degree of social value experience, thus leading to a higher degree of psychological well-being through a positive mediating role of social identity; whereas consumers with a higher degree of independent self-construal will have a higher degree of content value experience, thus leading to a higher degree of psychological well-being through a positive mediating role of self-esteem. Managers can segment the consumers based on their self-construal and design appropriate customer relationship strategies.