Dimensions of Product Quality and Country-of-Origin Effects Research

Abstract

Abstract Country-of-Origin (COO) studies are frequently concerned with COO effects on consumers' perceptions of product quality. Nonetheless, there is no set of widely accepted quality dimensions in the COO literature. Consequently, COO effects on quality perceptions have been examined at different conceptual levels: product-specific attributes or general quality dimensions such as reliability and workmanship, applicable to various product categories. Even at the same conceptual level, researchers have often examined COO effects with different quality dimensions. These inconsistencies impede theory building and generalizations across COO studies. In this research, we propose Garvin's (1984) taxonomy to be adopted in conceptualizing and operationalizing product quality dimensions for the COO research. The empirical results support our proposal.