FACETS OF COUNTRY-OF-ORIGIN IMAGE - AN EMPIRICAL-ASSESSMENT

Country of origin (CO) is a potentially powerful image variable that can be used to gain competitive advantage in international marketing. However, deficiencies in the definition and measurement of its facets have contributed to ineffective and infrequent use of CO image as a competitive tool. The research reported in this article addresses these weaknesses through the use of confirmatory factor and incremental fit analyses. The findings reveal that CO image is a multifaceted construct and that its facets are clearly interpretable. The article concludes with a discussion of advertising implications and directions for future research.