Country of Origin effect on purchase intent of French wine

suggestions for the purpose of future research on country image

Table 5.1 : Summary of Research Hypothesis and Outcomes

Research Hypothesis Outcome

H1: Socio-demographic factors will influence Taiwanese consumers purchase intention of French wine such that women, higher educated, and younger ones will have greater purchase intention toward French wine

Partially supported P<0.05 H2: Consumers who have a more favorable country image about

France will have greater purchase intention of French wine. Supported P<0.001 H4: The more the consumer is knowledgeable about wine, the more

favorable is the purchase intention of French wine. Supported P<0.01

5.1. Country of Origin effect on purchase intent of French wine.

The discussion of results is done through the analysis of the impact of country of origin on Taiwanese consumers' attitudes toward French wine. The analysis showed that the overall impact of country of origin on the purchase intention of French wine is positive. It would appear that a positive image of the country of origin of the wine is a positive determinant to final purchase decision.

The report table 4.5 on wine consumption frequency shows that 96% of respondents are wine consumers with a consumption of at least one time every few months.

Because a part of the respondents were selected from the email database of a wine shop's clients we can understand the high level of wine consumers.

•‧

國

立立 政 治 大

㈻㊫學

•‧

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

Finally, our results were not much influenced by socio-demographic variables except for the gender of respondents.

On the managerial level, this work provides a real answer to the question on the impact of image brought to the country of origin of a product. Such study tries to educate professionals on the risks and benefits of country of origin effects. It gives a general track of actions to play with when exporting wine in Asia.

The main goal of this research was to understand Taiwanese consumers perception of France and its impact on their purchase intention.

View from abroad, France has always had a specific image. Sometimes admired for its cultural influence, envied or criticized for its unconditional commitment to its lifestyle, pointed at for its endemic social issues or just misunderstood because of its way to do things differently, namely, in "the French way."

France's influence is taken in a very general sense, and in this definition, stereotypes about France are often strong. France's foreign policy, its economic and social model, its cultural influence, or the its social and economic weight are all factors that can influence public opinion. On the other hand, it is difficult to compare the actual level of influence of a country image in the international scale. The goal is to understand if its influence is seen as mainly positive or negative by the public opinion.

The test results for this study have shown that Taiwanese people have a overall positive image of France. Only 2,5% of respondents reported having a negative opinion about France with almost 58% of respondents having a positive image. Even though as much as 72% of the respondents have never visited France before and 32%

feel not knowledgeable about France, it shows that Taiwanese people's positive

•‧

國

立立 政 治 大

㈻㊫學

•‧

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

opinion about France comes from their perceived image. Thanks to such positive overall image, France posses advantages at the international level. Such advantages are used by companies to expand in new markets which is one of the reason why French wine is forcing exportations in Asia.

If we consider the fact that products made in France own a strong quality image worldwide it is interesting to notice that Taiwanese respondents expressed a very high opinion on French products. Indeed, 64% of respondents are having positive opinion on Made in France products (14% very positive). In regard to their opinion of French wine, the results are even higher with 44% of respondents having a very positive opinion about French wine (45% positive). Such high opinion on a single product is extremely encouraging knowing that 39% of the respondents don't feel knowledgeable about wine. The study shows us that the country of origin of wine remains a very important factor of quality evaluation for Taiwanese consumers, although can be price is also a meaningful factor when purchasing wine for personal purpose. Indeed, the results of H6a/b show that Taiwanese consumers attach importance to the country of origin of the wine when purchasing for social purpose rather than for private consumption. This finding goes in line with Yang's (1989) research explaining that Chinese culture consumers are in low-involvement purchase when buying for private purpose and therefore they will be first influenced by the price.

Taiwanese wine market is growing but remains small in terms of consumption per capita. The fact that Taiwan market it not yet mature for wine can explain somehow the lack of familiarity with French wine which helps understand the strong influence of the wine's country of origin cues when at the time of purchase.

•‧

國

立立 政 治 大

㈻㊫學

•‧

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

As predicted and analyzed on the test novice consumers having an overall positive opinion about France have expressed a strong likeliness to purchase French wine (M

= 4). In the other hand, experts about wine are not directly influenced by the French origin of the wine which could be explained by their knowledge about wine in general. It does not mean they will not buy French wine but instead evaluate the other attributes of the wine such as the grape used to make the wine or the year of bottling. We can infer that despite the clear influence of country of origin of the wine, country of origin is not the only predictable we have to take into account. Moreover, only 8% of the respondents indicated that they had an expert level which is a very low sample, not sufficient to analysize effectively the influence country image on the level of expertise.