Research On The Country-of-Origin Effects Of Cultural Products

The ‘country-of-origin effect' has been an important field in international marketing research in recent decades.Most existing researches have confirmed the existence of the country-of-origin effects,but there is still lack of a comprehensive theoretical framework to explain the country-of-origin effects effectively,and the mechanism of the country-of-origin effects has not been well explained.Most empirical studies on the country-of-origin effects mainly concentrated on the field of general material products,and researches on the country-of-origin effects of the emerging cultural industries are still seriously inadequate.In view of this,the objective of this study is to systematically examine the country-of-origin effects of cultural products.In the aspect of literature research,the dual characteristics of material and spiritual of cultural products,as well as the characteristics of cultural products in production,consumption and value determination,are clarified.The hinder of the cultural barriers in the international market of cultural products is pointed out,and the importance of domestic market to cultural products is emphasized.By clearing the relationship between cultural products and national image,the subtle role of cultural products in shaping the image of national image is pointed out,and the strategic significance of cultural products in international politics,economy and culture is emphasized.Through the analysis of the cognitive and emotional components of the national image,this research clarifies the differences in attitude guiding direction of the country-of-origin effects for consumers in developed and developing countries,and emphasizes the special significance of the country-of-origin effect researches for developing countries.In the aspect of theoretical research,the signal theory,the stereotype theory and the elaboration likelihood theory are connected in series to explain the occurrence of the country-of-origin effect systematically,and the complexity of the country-of-origin effect is explained.This research systematically reviews and examines the four basic mechanism models of country-of-origin effects,i.e.the halo model,the independent-attribute model,the summary construct model and the flexible model.By clarifying the two major problems of the four basic models of country-of-origin effects,and analyzing the three possible results of the flexible model test,this research points out that the country-of-origin effects can be examined by testing the flexible model and the summary construct model only.Testing of the four basic models one by one is not necessary.On the basis,the flexible model and the summary construct model of the country-of-origin effects of cultural products are proposed.In the aspect of empirical research,seven experiments were carried out to answer the relating questions of the country-of-origin effects of cultural products on the basis of single-clue and multi-clue studies.In the single-clue studies,the existence of the country-of-origin effects of cultural products was confirmed.The country-of-origin effects of cultural products was prooved to be the halo effect with the cultural product beliefs as mediation of national image on the evaluation of cultural products when the image of the country of origin is dominated by the cognitive components.But when the image of the country of origin is dominated by emotional components,the direct influence of the national image on cultural products evaluation was found to increase significantly,and the consumer ethnocentrism was found to moderate the country-of-origin effects of cultural products actively.The existence of country-of-origin effect of non-cultural products was also confirmed.The differences in the country-of-origin effect mechanism between cultural and non-cultural products were also found.Cultural content was found to have a significant moderating effect on the country-of-origin effects.Under multi-clue condition,exposure of the other attribute information of cultural products was found to reduce consumers' dependence on national image when evaluating cultural products,but the halo effect of the country of origin of cultural products still remained significant.By investigating the cultural factors and consumer factors that may influence the country-of-origin effects of cultural products,gender,cultural familiarity,brand familiarity,consumer product knowledge and consumer involvement were all found to have no significant influence on the country-of-origin effect of cultural products,which proves the stability of the country-of-origin effect of cultural products.The systematic research on the country-of-origin effect of cultural products has important theoretical and practical significance,enriches the researching directions of the country-of-origin effects,provides a theoretical framework for relevant researches,and theoretically reveals the important strategic significance of cultural products in political,economic and cultural aspects,as well as the importance of country-of-origin effect researches for developing countries.The study also provides useful inspirations and ideas on strategies of national image construction and cultural products' international marketing.