Advancing the country image construct

This research note addresses the challenge of how to optimally measure acquiescence response style (ARS) and extreme response style (ERS). This is of crucial importance in assessing results from studies that have tried to identify antecedents of response styles (such as age, education level, national culture). Using survey data from the Netherlands, a comparison is made between the traditional method and a more recently proposed method of measuring ARS and ERS (i.e., the convergent validity across both methods is assessed). The traditional method is based on an ad hoc set of related items. The alternative method uses a set of randomly sampled items to optimize heterogeneity and representativeness of the items. It is found that the traditional method may lead to response style measures that are suboptimal for estimating levels of ARS and ERS as well as relations of ARS and ERS with other variables (like hypothesized antecedents). Recommendations on how to measure response styles are provided

COO in print advertising: Developed versus developing market comparisons

International audienceCountry-of-origin (COO) research is criticized for its lack of practical relevance. Literature largely focuses on consumers' responses to COO, while relatively little is known about whether and when companies actively choose COO in their marketing mix. This research makes predictions about COO usage versus non-usage and the number and type of COO cues used in a developed versus developing country context. We test the hypotheses with a content analysis of ads published in three major magazines in France and India, respectively, involving 2181 print ads published over a 12-month period. The results reveal surprising differences between a developed and an emerging country in terms of relevance and usage of COO, but also between theoretical predictions from the literature and actual applications by companies. This research provides companies with guidelines for the use of COO in marketing communication and contributes to the discussion on COO relevance by taking a novel perspective