Document Type
Thesis
First Faculty Advisor
Ganga Hewage
Keywords
purchase type; country-of-origin; consumer behavior
Publisher
Bryant University
Rights Management
CC-BY-NC-ND
Abstract
Global marketing has seen immense growth in the past few decades with technology driving most of the advancements. This has given consumers many choices and country-of-origin (COO) has become an important criterion in the decisions they make. However, prior work has not examined how the importance of country-of-origin may differ based on the type of purchase (experiential vs. material) that consumers make. To address this gap, this research explores the effect of purchase type on COO decisions. The results of three studies show that when making material purchases compared to experiential purchases, consumers have a higher emphasis on COO, thereby displaying a higher relative preference for stronger COO option. The effect is driven by identity signaling motives. This research has both theoretical and practical implications.
