Antecedents and Outcomes of Country-of-Origin Effect: The Extended Self-Congruity Context (ESCT)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the symbolic representations of non-consumers compared to live experiences of consumers related to a luxury brand, particularly, the non-owners and the owners of a luxury brand Mercedes-Benz (MB) together with the country image and the country-of-origin effect. A total of 275 consumers coming from the community of higher education in Finland are investigated concerning the country-of-origin effect for both non-owners (243) and owners (32). The study reveals that the country-of-origin effect for both non-owners and owners of a Mercedes-Benz has a similar impact, as the model developed, has a good fit and is statistically significant. The paper suggests the ‘extended self-congruity context for hypothetical purchases of non-consumers/non-owners’ which is developed and tested and leads to its approval. Moreover, it concludes that there are statistically significant differences between owners versus non-owners, and these differences relate to the constructs of country image, brand familiarity, partly purchase involvement, brand commitment, product design and product experience. This study provides the ‘extended self-congruity context for hypothetical purchases of non-consumers/non-owners’ of a luxury brand which has the attribute to be a strong brand with a strong country image. Furthermore, it reveals that ‘price consciousness’ is irrelevant to a luxury brand.