| Information science and technology has developed dramatically since the 21st century, among which internet information science and technology has brought information revolution that sweeps across the globe. The world has taken on a flat development, while economic integration grows increasingly apparent. In an era of "global village", commercial activities among nations are becoming more and more frequent with the transnational distance being shortened. Be it commodity flow or fashion trend, circulation in the global market is almost synchronized as the geographical and regional disparities fade gradually. Varieties of commodities exchanged in the market are turning richer with new emerging products. Hence, for customers the goods to choose is no longer confined by national borders. With the springing up of new products, customers embrace more chances to select commodities; however, as information technology and economy is advancing so fast, customers are receiving enormously complicated information and the consumption environment is changing dramatically, which means customers are faced with intricate product and brand selection in the global consumption market. The asymmetry between information of the buyer and the purchaser, consumers’limited cognitive competence, ability of information searching and expensive time cost generate increase in the importance and difficulty of decision while enlarging customers’selection scope. It’s pretty hard for customers surrounded by abundant brands and products to make the right decision. Only by finding one or several clues can the decision complexity be reduced and the right evaluation be made for the customers. National image is a significant external clue.It should be noted that transnational enterprises are no longer selling commodities in a traditional sense with the rapid development of international trade. Commodities are exporting consumption culture and values. More and more enterprises have discovered the importance of cross-cultural studies on customers. And cross-cultural marketing management has gained attention of more enterprises. As the second largest economy in the world, Chinese market has gradually developed as a major international market, which renders greater significance to deepen the understanding of customers’consumption behaviors. Reviewing on literature on national image, we can find the research subjects are mainly consumers in developed countries, and few literature has studied consumers in developing countries. China and the western nations differ a lot from each other in cultural values, social customs and market developmentlevel; hence the research results of the western world cannot be directly used to study our realities. The enlargement of economic integration of number of transnational enterprises make it an academic hotspot to study how national image influences customers’purchase intention and product evaluation. Present studies have demonstrated that customers are indeed influenced by patriotism and national image evaluation in assessing products and making purchase decisions. Nevertheless, conclusions of researches on customers in different countries are not unanimous. Results of foreign studies cannot be imitated. Chinese market is viewed as an important overseas market. Large quantity of enterprises have been entered into Chinese market and gained their share. Under this background, it is of theoretical and practical significance to discuss national image’s influence on purchase intention with Chinese consumers as research subjects.This thesis, which is divided into six chapters, utilizes methods of empirical study and probes into how national image affects customers’purchase intention under the modulation of brand equity and patriotism from the viewpoint of customers.The first chapter is introduction. This chapter mainly involves the following contents: propose thesis questions, present research contents and framework, display thesis structure design and technical methods and finally explain research methods and innovations.First part:Introduction. This part primarily introduces background of the research subject, presents research background and significance, uses flow chart to illustrate thesis structure design and technical roadmap and finally put forward the thesis innovations.The second part reviews and concludes relevant literature and theories about each variables in the research, such as national image, brand equity, patriotism, consumers’ brand attitude, purchase intention, etc., which is the theoretical foundation of further studies.Based on previous literature review and conclusion, the third part proposes the conceptual model and hypothesis of national image’s influence on customers’ purchase intention and designs various variables including national image, brand equity, patriotism, customers’brand attitude and purchase intention. Then as per research objective and hypothesis, it explains research methods needed to be conducted and forms the final research questionnaire, which establishes a structural framework for the empirical measurement and quantitative analysis in chapter four and five.The fourth part is empirical study and design. It first introduces the selection of sample, sample size and industrial background and then conduct analysis on questionnaire reliability and validity, hand out questionnaires again, collect and record data, and examine the reliability and validity of the scale.The fifth part is empirical analysis. To begin with, first hand data is collected from questionnaires. By statistical analysis software SPSS17.0, data reliability and validity are checked. And software Amost17.0 and hierarchical multiple regression method are employed to verify the hypothesis.The sixth part is conclusion and inspirations. In accordance with the results gained from empirical analysis in chapter five, it brings forward related policy suggestions. Moreover, it analyzes limitations and shortages of the study objectively and sheds some light on studies to come.Centered on the above logic, the thesis comes to four conclusions:Conclusion 1:national image has apparent positive influence on customers’brand consumption attitude, that is, the greater the political and economic development degree, product image and customer image of national image, more positive influence would it has on customers’consumption attitude. If customers regard the national image of the country where some brands are produced is good, they will form positive brand consumption attitude. With the same conditions, the better the national image, the more positive consumers’brand consumption attitude would be generated and vice versa.Conclusion 2:Three dimensions of national image have equal degree of influence on customers’consumption attitude. Take China for example, customers’ brand consumption attitude is first impacted by customers’image. While for the U.S. and Korea, it is first influenced by product image.Conclusion 3:mediation of patriotism varies from country to country. Researches in China indicate patriotism will obviously adjust impact of customers’image on customers’ brand attitude. American studies show that patriotism will apparently adjust the impact of customers’image and the political and economic’development degree on customers’ brand attitude, among which customers’image has a greater influence than political and economic development degree. Korean investigations presents that patriotism will greatly adjust product image’s influence on customers’brand attitude. Customers differ from each other in their patriotism. Customers with different level of patriotism will judge differently while they form product consumption attitudes towards distinct brands from various countries. For Chinese brands, consumers pay great emphasis on investigations of Chinese consumers’image; for American brands, they also emphasize studies on American customers’image; while for Korean products, they stress on investigation on product image.Conclusion 4:Customers’ brand attitude has apparent positive influence on purchase intention. This hypothesis, which matches with our research hypothesis, is in line with former study conclusions. Customers’ consumption tendency is mainly manifested by their brand consumption attitude, which can precisely predict their purchase intention.Major innovations and contributions of this study are mainly manifested in the following aspects:First, studies on national image and brand attitude are mainly elaborated from perspective of the researcher or enterprise. This thesis tries to construct national image from the perspective of consumers and evaluates enterprise brand equity from that perspective.Secondly, based on summary of present literature, this thesis proposes a conceptual model about how the national image influences customers’ purchase intention in an innovative way. From the perspective of customers, the thesis takes national image as independent variable, customers’ brand attitude as intermediate variable, and purchase intention as dependent variable to construct the conceptual model. Among present literature, most are purely focused on the influence of national image or similar variables on purchase intention, while some have explored ties between brand equity and purchase intention. Besides, a few scholars regard national image and brand equity as consequential variables to study the impact of the former on the latter and their relevancy. Considering the fact that customers may be affected by various factors in consumption, the thesis puts forward a conceptual model which includes the influence of national image, patriotism and brand equity on customers’ purchase intention...
|
PDF Full Text Request