The Role of Involvement in Country Image Effects on Product Choice

[[abstract]]來源國形象對於產品購買選擇之影響一直是很重要的議題。由於在不同涉入程度的條件之下，消費者處理產品訊息的優先順序及形式有所差異。因此本研究認為，當消費者的涉入程度較低時，建立在消費者心中的來源國形象就容易成為評估產品績效之直接依據；反之，高涉入的消費者則較有興趣直接根據本身對於屬性水準的偏好結構進行方案評估，來源國形象所形成的保證或信賴度則有助於正面提升特定屬性表現的信念，對偏好結構造成影響。本研究以日本、美國、德國等三個來源國之汽車購買為例，透過問卷調查衡量消費者對於不同國家之一般形象、不同來源國汽車之偏好選擇，以及消費者對於汽車產品的涉入程度。本研究以Sawtooth Software公司的選擇基礎聯合分析軟體（CBC Software）建立汽車組合選擇，再透過Logit模型衡量不同涉入消費者的總體偏好結構及來源國的直接效果及交互效果。實證結果顯示，來源國形象可以區分為政經科技之總體形象，以及人民產品之品質形象；兩種來源國形象皆正面影響受訪者對於汽車之整體偏好選擇。將受訪者依涉入程度分成高中低三群之後，中高涉入者相對於低涉入者，在認知上顯著重視部份汽車內在屬性，包括整體外觀、內裝配備、安全氣囊等，但也較重視來源國別。以Logit模型分析涉入三群的汽車組合選擇資料之後，研究發現受訪者對於來源國皆較偏好美、德二國，並且在高涉入Logit模型中，來源國與汽車屬性交乘項的交互效果大部份皆顯著，而中低涉入Logit模型的交互效果則大部份皆不顯著。[[abstract]]The influence of country-of-origin image on the selection of product purchase has been the important issue. With different involvements, the consumers have different priorities and forms with regard to the dealing with product information. Thus, this research suggests that when the consumers involve less, their country-of-origin image will tend to be the direct criterion to evaluate product performance. On the contrary, the consumers involve more tend to have their evaluation upon the preference of attribute level. The guarantee or reliability of country-of-origin image facilitates the positive faith in specific attributes and influences the preference. This research treats the automobile purchase of three countries of origin (Japan, U.S. and Germany) as examples and measures the consumers’ general images of different countries, their preference for the automobiles of different countries of origin and their involvement in automobiles through questionnaire survey. This research constructs automobile selection by CBC Software of Sawtooth Software and measures the overall preference of the consumers with different involvements and direct and interaction effects of country of origin by Logit model. The empirical result shows that country-of-origin image includes overall image of politics, economy and technology and quality image of the people product; two kinds of country-of-origin image positively influence the participants’ overall preference for automobile. We divide involvement into high, medium and low groups and find that comparing with the consumers with low involvement, those with high involvement value the internal attributes of the automobiles, including overall appearance, inner decoration and security airbag; they also pay attention to country of origin. After analyzing the automobile selection of three involvement groups by Logit model, we find that the most of the participants prefer U.S. and Germany. Besides, in Logit model of high-involvement participants, most of the interaction effects of multiply item between country of origin and automobile attributes are significant. Interaction effects of Logit model with medium and low involvement tend to be insignificant.[[note]]碩