The Effect Of Product Word-of-Mouth,Region Word-ofmouth,Multidimensional Image Of GI Labels On Customers’ Purchase Preference

In recent years,national policies focus on the development of Geographical Indication Products(PGI).With the support of national policies,the number of Geographical Indication Products in China is growing steadily.At the same time,with the occurrence of all kinds of food safety incidents,consumers are more sensitive to food quality and safety,and their requirements are also improving.Geographical Indication Products can provide consumers with food safety,quality and environmental guarantees,which are expected to enlarge the market radius with the help of policies.However,the market competition of characteristic agricultural products is increasingly stiff in China,and how to highlight the competitive advantages of Geographical Indication Products and build Geographical Indication brands has become a realistic problem to be solved urgently.GI label can stimulate consumers’ association with products in terms of quality,economic support,culture and traditional technology,and provide consumers with positive influence.Based on this,improving the image of Geographical Indications labels may become the key factor to build competitive advantages of Geographical Indications Product for relevant enterprises.Despite the numbers of Geographical Indication Products in China is large,consumers’ cognition and familiarity with Geographical Indication Products are still not high,which limits the development of regional brands to a certain extent.Consumers who have low familiarity often need to refer to word-of-mouth of product and so on external information to shape the image of GI labels when making purchase decisions.Considering the Geographical Indication Product’s characteristics all depend on their special region of origin,the word-ofmouth of region of origin is also important for the purchase decision of Geographical Indication Products.On the basis of existing research,this study divides the image of GI labels into three dimensions,including quality guarantee,economic support,cultural factors.Meanwhile,exploring the effect of product word-of-mouth and region word-of-mouth on multidimensional image of GI labels.In addition,this study finds out the moderating effect of consumers’ trust.Based on this,this study takes Gannan navel orange as the research object and constructs a research model.The empirical analysis carries out by structural equation model based on survey data that 410 consumers are surveyed in the Yangtze River Delta region.The empirical research includes the following contents: First,testing the feasibility of the three-dimensional image of GI labels.Second,analyzing the relationship among product word-of-mouth,region word-of-mouth,multidimensional image of GI labels,consumers’ product attitude and purchase intention.Third,verifying the mediating effect of multidimensional image of GI labels on the relationship between word-of-mouth and consumers’ product attitude.Fourth,exploring whether consumers’ trust can moderate the influence of product word-of-mouth,region word-of-mouth on multidimensional image of GI labels.The conclusions of this study include the following points:First,cultural factors are the key element of multidimensional image of GI labels.The three-dimensional image of GI labels constructed in this study is feasible.The multidimensional image of GI labels has a significant positive impact on consumers’ attitude,and the influence of cultural factors and quality guarantee dimension is stronger than that of economic support dimension.Second,the relationship among product word-of-mouth,region word-of-mouth,multidimensional image of GI labels,consumers’ attitude and purchase intention is verified.Product word-of-mouth and region word-of-mouth have different influences on the image of GI labels.Product word-of-mouth has significant and positive influence on quality guarantee and economic support,but has no significant influence on cultural factors.While region word-of-mouth has a significant impact on the threedimensional image of GI labels.Meanwhile,word-of-mouth has no significant direct effect on consumers’ attitude,the effect is completely mediated by multidimensional image of GI labels.Third,for consumers with different level of trust,word-of-mouth has different effect on the image of GI labels.Trust negatively moderates the effect of word-of-mouth on the image of GI labels,the effect is stronger when consumers have low trust.By referring to the existing researches,this study enriches the dimensions of word-ofmouth and the image of GI labels by considering the special nature of Geographical Indication Products,explores the strengthening path of multidimensional image of GI labels,clarifies the moderating effect of consumer trust,and enriches relevant studies.Conclusions of this study provide possible suggestions for enterprises,government to build regional brands.