Exploring the impact of country of origin fit and team identification in sports brand evaluation
ABSTRACT Research question: This study sought to identify the effects of perceived quality of products associated with country of origin (COO) images and its interplay with team identification on overall consumer brand evaluation. Research methods: In order to test the proposed hypotheses, an experimental study using a series of 2 (COO images: incongruent vs. congruent) x 2 (team identification: low vs. high) mixed factorial designs was conducted. One hundred thirty six college student subjects from a northeastern university in the US participated in the main experiment. Results and findings: Subjects in the congruent COO image condition showed significantly greater positive post alliance evaluation changes toward the host brand than those in the incongruent COO image condition. Meanwhile, subjects in the incongruent COO image condition showed significantly greater positive post alliance evaluation changes toward the partner brand than those in the congruent COO image condition. Implications: This study implies that the COO images and consumer team identification jointly affect the product evaluation in a cross border strategic brand alliance context. In order to target lowly identified consumers, the host brand should collaborate with a partner brand with a favorable country image. By contrast, for highly identified consumers, the partner brand need to ally with a well known host brand with a favorable COO image so that the partner brand can leverage off the favorable COO image of the host brand.