The shielding effects of brand image against lower quality countries-of-origin in global manufacturing

Two studies are conducted, based on the framework of accessibility-diagnosticity and information integration. The goals of these studies are to examine the protective effects of brand image against lower quality countries-of-origin in global manufacturing. Study 1 shows that brands with high familiarity and high quality reputations (called strong brands hereafter) have much smaller perceived-quality discounting for lower quality countries-of-origin than brands with mediocre familiarity and mediocre quality reputations (weak brands hereafter). Study 2, conducted with a different set of brands and consumers from a different country, shows similar shielding effects of brand image as found in Study 1. The findings of judgment-weight allocation of Study 2 strongly support the hypotheses of accessibility-diagnosticity and information integration, explaining why the shielding effects of brand image occur. The authors discuss implications of the findings, especially with regard to the global manufacturing/country-of-origin management, and the brand management for strong and weak brands. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.