This research examines the direct effect of country personality (CP) on consumer product attitude and indirect effect through consumer self-congruity between CP and his/her own self-concept on product attitude in an emerging country- Turkey. We propose an integrated structural equation model to examine the relationships. Measurement scales for CP, self-congruity and attitude are developed whose validities and reliabilities are confirmed by exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analyses with data collected from a sample of consumers in Turkey on two countries: USA and China.
The results reveal that four out of the original six dimensions of CP remain after a CFA is completed. The results show a direct effect of CP for two aspects of CP on product attitude as well as an indirect effect for one of the aspects of CP on product attitude through consumer’s self-congruity as the mediator. These results also suggest that the CP construct may require further testing in other emerging markets to confirm the generalizability of the construct
