Country image, product image and consumer purchase intention: Evidence from an emerging economy

In offering fresh insights on the country-of-origin effect literature, this article provides evidence to suggest that cognitive country image (Cl) is not necessarily consistent with affective country image. Based on a large scale consumer survey conducted in China, the findings reported provide empirical support for a hypothesized decomposing effect. In particularly, the results demonstrate that cognitive and affective Cl have a different impact on the intention to purchase, with the former influencing purchase through product image, and the latter having a direct influence, independent of product image. Such a decomposing effect has important theoretical and managerial implications surrounding the mechanics of country image and the impact on purchase intention which are extracted from this study along with directions for future research. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.