加拿大消費者對於東亞產品態度之研究

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(1)⊕ 國立中山大學企業管理學系碩士班碩士論文. 加拿大消費者對於東亞產品態度之研究 A Study on Canadian Customers’ Attitude toward East Asian Products: An empirical study. 研究生(Student’s Name)：麥雲(Garrett Mellon)撰指導教授(Thesis Advisor)：趙平宜博士(Dr. Chao Ping-Yi). 中華民國九十九年一月.

(2) Acknowledgements. First and foremost I would like to sincerely thank my thesis advisor Professor Chao Ping-Yi, since without his devoted support this thesis in its current form would not have been possible. Hi guidance, knowledge, and above all a willingness to provide the time and personal attention necessary made the entire process from conception to final copy a pleasant one. I would also like to thank Professors Min-Hsin Huang and Lai Wen-ben for taking part in the oral defence and for offering their valuable insights and suggestions for improvement. As well, my home base, National Sun Yat-sen University deserves mention, for its supportive network of professors and staff (special thanks to Grace Chen and Julia Chan for their tireless assistance regarding my many questions). Finally, as with so many aspects of my life these years, I must mention Taiwan itself, the country I called home for so long.. 2.

(3) Abstract. This thesis was concerned with the branch of Consumer Marketing known as Consumer Perception Reasoning, and focused on the reasoning behind the Country-of-Origin Effect and image framing on product selling and promotion effectiveness. The well-established research comprising Country-of-Origin was reviewed to establish a rapport for further research exploring reasons that shape existing consumer attitude. With regard to reasoning, different social, political and cultural variables were explored. It was hypothesized that that the majority of Canadians, separated by ethnic origin, are partial to the same reasoning motivating their appeal toward East Asian country-of-origin effects, and therefore, can be categorized into different ethnocentric buying groups. The primary rationale citied was consumer ethnocentrism between the participants and the images; country-of-origin was the basis of this research. An experimental design was performed, making use of real world political and economical issues present in mass media to form a post exposure questionnaire. Overall, the two-way interaction between perception reasoning and cultural values was upheld, albeit with interesting and notable secondary results. Although Western values did shape the majority of consumer opinion, there was a significant lack in country-of-origin knowledge and experience that caused inaccurate perception motivation. This lack created a greater dislike toward the Taiwanese COO tag resulting from image transferability from the Chinese tag. As well, consumer gender played a significant part in shaping perception motivation toward each of the real-time variables. This was the first study to explicitly the Country-of-Origin Effect to a cross-variable framework, thereby offering significant theoretical contributions to the consumer marketing literature.. Keywords: Country-of-Origin Effect, perception motivation, consumer behavior, Canadian consumer, importation, attitudes, cross cultural, selling effectiveness, retail. 3.

(4) 摘要本研究主要是對消費者市場之消費者知覺推斷的觀念，並專注在對原產國的推斷之影響以及包裝對產品銷售與推廣的效果。此建構完整的研究由對原產國的回顧更進一步地推論會造成消費者對其產品的態度。推斷與社會、政治和文化的相關皆已被探就，本研究假設部分由原祖國區分而來的加拿大人與東亞國家有相同的推斷動機，也因此將之區分為不同的民族中心購買族群。主要的基本理論為民族優越感，原祖國即是本研究的基礎。本研究藉由實驗設計來完成，並利用真實事件中存在於大眾媒體間之政治與經濟的議題來設計問券，本實驗設計為二因子實驗，其一因子知覺推論，另一為文化價值，雖然西方文化影響大部分消費者的主張，但西方文化仍缺乏原祖國的知識與經驗，引此造成的不正確的知覺動機。這樣的缺乏也造成對消費者標示台灣的厭惡感，主要是來自其與中國之間的可轉讓性大。同樣地，消費者性別對知覺動機也存在相當大的影響。本研究原祖國影響及其交互作用對消費者市場領域而言有極大的意義。. 4.

(5) Contents Figures and Tables............................................................................................................... 6 Chapter One: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 7 1.2 Research Motivation and Objectives ............................................................................ 9 1.3 Research Goals .......................................................................................................... 11 1.4 Hypothesis................................................................................................................. 13 Chapter Two: Literature Review ......................................................................................... 14 2.1 The Role of Country Images in Evaluation ................................................................ 14 2.2 Country-of-Origin Effect ........................................................................................... 16 2.3 Consumer Ethnocentrism ........................................................................................... 17 2.4 Image Transferability ................................................................................................ 19 Chapter Three: Conceptual Framework ............................................................................... 21 Chapter four: Methodology ................................................................................................. 25 4.1 Site and Preparations ................................................................................................. 27 4.2 Questionnaire ............................................................................................................ 28 Chapter Five: Results and Discussion .................................................................................. 30 5.1 Overall Quality Images and Attitude Backgrounds .................................................... 30 5.2 Attitude Factor Reasoning ......................................................................................... 33 5.3 Demographics and attitudes toward East Asian COO tags.......................................... 35 Chapter Six: Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 39 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 42 5.

(6) Figures and Tables Figure 1: Framework for COO Effect Reasoning ................................................................. 24. Table 1: Ethnic-based Ethnocentrism, Ethnic-based Animosity, and Consumer Racism (Ouellet, 2007) .................................................................................................................... 18 Table 2: Consumer Attitude and Knowledge of East Asian COO tags ................................. 31 Table 3: Positive/Negative consumer attitude reasoning ...................................................... 34 Table 4: Demographic comparison among existing consumer attitude ................................. 36 Table 5: Reasoning Factors by Gender variable ................................................................... 38. 6.

(7) Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Introduction From the beginning, the Mars Brothers followed a standing policy: Never source from a vendor who has been in business for less than two years. They believed in only procuring products that have already been able to sell and gain consumer confidence for a long period of time. This is a policy that has not only ensured product quality, but also allowed the company to avoid the North American pet food scare in 2006 (Mars Incorporated, 2008). Fellow Canadian food provider Loblaw has learned from the goal of this policy and has now began focusing on products made by established, Canadian producers. The goal of proper sourcing is simple; sellers are ensuring their products through higher quality standards from countries that have a positive image in the consumer mind (Limited, 2008). The use of information cues including product brand, price and country-of-origin in consumer decision processes is of interest to marketing practitioners and researchers. Marketers want to know how sensitive consumers might be to pricing variations between domestic and imported products of the same type and the consequences of moving well known domestic brand names to new countries of manufacture (Bilkey & Nes, 1982). Country-of-origin information and its impact relative to other information on consumers when making product choices, is particularly important in highly industrialized countries because of generally high importation rates of manufactured products, many from lower-cost newly industrialized countries (Wang & Lamb, 1983).. 7.

(8) Further, increased trade between Canada and China will likely increase the flow of goods between the two countries. Hence the improved understanding of consumer product evaluations in relation to country and other information cues has practical implications. In addition, researchers want to understand the relative importance of consumer image reasoning and its effects on country-of-origin preferences and judgments.. 8.

(9) 1.2 Research Motivation and Objectives Specifically, my purpose is to research consumer attitude reasoning toward the country-oforigin (COO) effect on products originating from East Asian countries. This study will explain the negative and positive attitudes North American, more specifically Canadian consumers, hold toward products made in China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea. I hope to discover why consumer products become more or less attractive to Canadian consumers when they carry an East Asian COO tag. Reasoning will be researched depending on existing preferences held by the majority of consumers. This study will also measure reasoning differences between different demographic variables in the population, i.e. age, gender, income level. Due to increasing importation of East Asian products into the Canadian market, understanding consumer preference reasoning and discovering the impact of COO on selling strategies becomes more important (Gereffi, 1999). Following this motivation the following research questions arise: 1.. Why do Canadian consumers prefer products made in Korea (Magnusson & Hursti, 2001) and Japan (Wright, 1999), while they prefer not to purchase products made in China (Mishra, Lee & Kim, 1996) (Samiee, 1994) and Taiwan (Watson & Wright, 2000).. 2.. Does a consensus of COO preference exist in varying Canadian consumer segments? These segments will be classified using age, gender, income level, etc.. 9.

(10) 3.. What are their reported behaviours and intentions in past purchases?. 4.. Do they look for specific East Asian COO Tags?. 5.. What is the COO Tag of their most recent purchase; will Canadians pay more for products made in Japan and Korea?. 6.. Do reasoning factors vary with demographic variables among Canadians? This research is a field study which applies recorded observations and data collection.. Through this field study, my hope is to provide more useful insights of the COO effect on product selling strategies, thereby, making propositions according to my analytical results. My review of the literature did not reveal any studies that previously explored COO preference reasoning within the Canadian population. I wish this knowledge to help marketing professionals design and implement promotional tools in the Canadian market. Lastly, I believe this study will help imported consumer products achieve better results when selling in Canada.. 10.

(11) 1.3 Research Goals The primary goal of this research is to discover country-of-origin effect reasoning on Canadian consumer perception of East Asian COO tags. Consumers tend to utilize the country of origin more when they are less involved and less familiar with a product or service (Josiassen, Alexander, Lukes, & Whitwell, 2008). This effect will be in the form of consumer attitude toward East Asian products. Any positive or negative reasoning factor toward East Asian countries can be transfused to products and services sold in Canada, deriving from the COO categories image (Chao, 2001). The secondary goal of this research is to discover if the majority of Canadian consumers incorporate these reasoning factors into their purchase decision when comparing similar products with different East Asian COO’s. Once again, this will be determined measuring the chosen factors against positive or negative attitude toward specific East Asian COO’s (Lantz & Loeb, 1996). The focus on negative attitude toward products originating from China and Taiwan supports the sub-goal of discovering whether or not media attention on problems in these countries during this new millennium will sustain a lasting negative attitude from Canadian consumers (Lantz & Loeb, 1996). These so-called problems can be illustrated in the form of human rights violations, human caused environmental disasters and product defects, in some cases, resulting in the deaths of family pets (Elliott & Cameron, 1994). Another issue this research touches upon is Canadian quality perception of specific product categories made in different East Asian countries. Focus on different reasoning factors may suggest that a negative or positive attitude is only expressed toward category specific products and services with different East Asian COO Tags (Wall, Liefeld, & Heslop, 11.

(12) 1991). The goal of this issue is to discover whether or not manufacturers of one product category can maintain operations in an East Asian country without adopting the same positive or negative COO Tag that is set upon the country’s traditional product categories.. 12.

(13) 1.4 Hypothesis Preceding the events about to occur, I believe that the majority of Canadians, separated by ethnic origin, are partial to the same reasoning motivating their appeal toward East Asian country-of-origin effects, and therefore, can be categorized into different ethnocentric buying groups. Relating directly, different East Asian COO’s can be used to portray different levels of product value to Canadian consumers depending on product type and demographic market. Rationale for this prediction is drawn from the mosaic that comprises Canada’s population, which exposes Canadians of all ethnic backgrounds to different media, foreign consumer and product standards, creating an interest that does not exist in other countries outside of North America (Jedwab, 2006). If this prediction proves to be false, the majority of Canadian consumer reasoning cannot be specified into issues that affect overall consumer attitude toward each of the four East Asian COO’s. Both of these unproven propositions are empirically testable, and will be the focus when creating surveys, interviews and conducting data research.. 13.

(14) Chapter Two: Literature Review 2.1 The Role of Country Images in Evaluation Product-country images (PCIs) can be thought of as basic decision rules or rudimentary theories of the “if A, then B” type, held by consumers and influencing product assessments (“if it’s German, it must be well engineered”) (Papadopoulos, 1994). There is evidence that in contemporary markets PCIs are becoming more, rather than less, important (Han, 1989). One explanation for this trend may be the increasing use of country identifiers in government campaigns aiming to protect domestic products and by companies wanting to differentiate themselves from imitative competitors. Such campaigns serve to heighten awareness about differences among product origins. This awareness is reinforced further by the increased exposure of consumers to foreign countries through travel, the media, and the growing diversity of imported products that are available in the market. An additional explanation is that consumers use PCIs to make inferences about the quality of various offerings. In light of the complexity of today’s products and markets, consumers may use PCIs as surrogates for quality, just as they use price and brand names (Jacoby, Szybillo, & Busato-Schach, 1977). These and other general issues related to country images have been addressed by Bilkey and Nes (1982) and others (e.g., Papadopoulos, 1987). Of special interest here are three main conclusions from earlier research, which are not significantly affected by the above weaknesses: (a) Stereotyped country images are used in product evaluations, not only by consumers, but also by industrial buyers. (b) Country images are used as both halo and summary constructs in product evaluations (Han, 1989). In the first case, consumers use country images to make quality inferences in 14.

(15) situations where they lack product information or familiarity. Lowenbrau beer’s advertising in Canada, headlined “Lowenbrau: Carefully Engineered in Germany,” seems to rely on the halo hypothesis. The construct of “chunking” consists of consumers summarizing large amounts of information to simplify evaluations, by abstracting country image from known, more detailed product information. The growing tendency of Japanese manufacturers to stress, rather than obscure, their products’ origin would suggest their belief that consumers now have enough (positive) information to make chunking possible (Papadopoulos, 1994). (c) Consumer views about countries shift over time. These shifts mean that findings from descriptive time- and place specific research tend to date. A country may rise or fall in popular beliefs because of international events, changes in the range of products it supplies to foreign markets, or changes in general consumer tastes and preferences. Such research might be of interest to exporters wanting to assess consumer attitudes before entering a given market (e.g., Darling & Wood, 1990). Of more interest from a theoretical perspective would be studies that examine the underlying structure of relationships within consumer belief sets, which would be expected to shift more slowly over time.. 15.

(16) 2.2 Country-of-Origin Effect The country of origin effect, also known as the ``made in'' concept, has been broadly defined as the positive or negative influence that a product's country of manufacture may have on consumers' decision processes or subsequent behavior (Elliott & Cameron, 1994). Within the realm of consumer decision making, country of origin has been defined as an extrinsic cue that acts as a risk mitigate or quality cue for consumers (Papadopoulos, Heslop, Graby, & Avlonitis, 1987). Such extrinsic cues (others include price, brand name, warranties) serve as intangible product traits that contrast with intrinsic cues (e.g., taste, design), which are tangible aspects or physical characteristics of the product itself (Bilkey & Nes, 1982). Although some studies have questioned the importance of country of origin for much consumer decision making, recent research has demonstrated that the country of origin has a substantial effect on attitudes toward products and the likelihood of purchasing these products, often demonstrating effects that are as strong or stronger than those of brand name, price, or quality (Lantz & Loeb, 1996).. 16.

(17) 2.3 Consumer Ethnocentrism Recent research has linked the country of origin effect to levels of consumer ethnocentrism. Consumer ethnocentrism focuses on the responsibility and morality of purchasing foreignmade products and the loyalty of consumers to products manufactured in their home country (Sharma, Shimp, & Shin, 1995). Shimp and Sharma (1987) note that consumer ethnocentrism may result in an overestimation of the attributes and overall quality of domestic products and an underestimation of foreign product quality. The measurement of consumer ethnocentrism was made possible with the development of the Consumer Ethnocentric Tendencies Scale by Shimp and Sharma (1987). The CETSCALE consists of 17 items which measure the tendency of consumers to act consistently towards foreign and domestic products. Such tendencies may precede attitudes, but they are not the equivalent of attitudes, which tend to be object-specific. The relationship between country similarity and the country of origin effect has been researched widely (Lantz and Loeb, 1996; Shimp and Sharma, 1987). Wang and Lamb (1983) found a positive bias toward products from countries regarded as culturally similar to the USA (i.e., some European countries, Australia, and New Zealand), and they also found a greater willingness to purchase products from source nations that are politically and economically similar to the home country. Before discussing the theory and presence of consumer ethnocentrism, consumer ethnocentrism is differentiated from other forms of ethnic-based consumer motivation presented in Table one. Both ethnic-based ethnocentrism and animosity are situations generating negative effects from minority groups toward itself or the ethnic majority and will be excluded due to the nature of this research. Consumer racism is the only scenario where 17.

(18) negative emotions from the majority group are directed towards an ethnic minority, for example Caucasian Canadians observing East Asian culture; consumer racism will be the focus in this report as it exists in the core of consumer ethnocentrism. Table 1: Ethnic-based Ethnocentrism, Ethnic-based Animosity, and Consumer Racism (Ouellet, 2007). Variable. Directionality. Effects. Ethnic-based ethnocentrism. From either ethnic group toward itself. Increased willingness to buy products from own group and decreased willingness to buy products from all other groups. (Shrimp & Sharma, 1987). Ethnic-based animosity. Ethnic group specific (apparently from the ethnic minority toward the ethnic majority). Decreased willingness to buy products from the majority ethnic group.. Ethnic group specific (from the ethnic majority toward the dominant ethnic minority). Decreased judgments about products from the dominant ethnic group.. Consumer racism. 18.

(19) 2.4 Image Transferability Attitude toward product country-of-origin is a relevant base for research into attitude toward promotion. A product’s country-of-origin may determine quality, price, end use and availability of the product. The more exclusive these factors become the more prestigious the country-of-origin becomes. For many consumers, exposure to foreign culture is gained through media is displaying cultural attributes in promotion. Therefore, as the media presents certain countries as being more prestigious than others, consumers will relate cultural attributes of high prestige countries in promotion directly to the quality of the product itself (Wright, 1999). In 1986, a survey of Canadians was conducted to research attitudes toward Canadianmade products and towards imported products. Consumer attitude proved to be generally positive toward Canadian-made products, expect for Japanese-made products, which scored higher for automobiles and home entertainment products (Wall & Heslop, 1986). This high opinion of electronics made in Japan is directly transferable to all automobiles and home entertainment products through promotion. Through image association, marketing professionals can easily promote these products using Japanese themes and images. Even though the product may not be made in Japan, following the perception process, consumers will associate the high quality of the made in Japan product to the advertised product and brand (Gibson, 1966). In Canadian promotion, image association with foreign cultural attributes will pose a problem within East Asian cultural groups. Through out the past two decades, Canadian consumers have expressed negative attitudes toward Chinese-made products (Calantone, Schmidt, & Song, 1996). These negative attitudes may prove harmful when using Chinese 19.

(20) cultural attributes in Canadian promotions, especially if the promoting brand operates production facilities in China. When testing this theory, each East Asian culture will have to be individually presented to separate the possible outcome of image association with countryof-origin.. 20.

(21) Chapter Three: Conceptual Framework This research’s aim is to study the preference reasoning of Canadian consumers toward East Asian product Country-of-Origin tags. The conceptual model underlying the proposed research approach does not follow any previous developed model as the topic is unique to previous country-of-origin research. The new methodological approach toward the country-of-origin effect developed by Nonaka, Douglas & Johansson (1985) will be used as a starting point for this new framework. Overall effect (or evaluations) is specified to be a linear function of salient beliefs about a product or brand. The relation is, however, not only one-way. A reciprocal link from affect to beliefs known as the "halo" effect may also exist, implying that beliefs are also influenced by overall evaluations (Nonaka, Douglas, & Johansson, 1985). Hence, this new model must be expanded from a single overall evaluation equation into a system of equations in which the effect of the overall rating on each reasoning factor is taken into consideration. Applying this approach to study the impact of country of origin on product evaluations implies including the country of origin of the product as a separate attribute in both the overall evaluation equation and each of the reasoning equations (Gibson, 1966). Thus the impact of country of origin on both overall and specific attribute ratings can be examined. An individual's previous experience with a product (and a brand), familiarity with a product class, and other characteristics likely to affect his or her evaluations (demographic characteristics, nationality, etc.) also can be taken into account (Elliott & Cameron, 1994). This basic conceptual model has been applied to examine the impact of "image" variables, and specifically, on product evaluations in attitude reasoning.. 21.

(22) In my study, this approach is extended to examine the impact of nationality and other demographic variables of respondents. Not only is the direct impact of these variables on attitude reasoning taken into consideration, but also their interaction with familiarity and experience with specific products and brands originating from East Asian countries. Previous research has consistently found country stereotypes to depend on the nationality of a respondent, in some cases reflecting a "home-country" bias (Sharma, Shrimp, & Shin, 1995). In addition, individual characteristics of a respondent, and particularly differences in the availability and cost of various products or brands between countries also may be expected to influence the degree of experience or knowledge about a COO or product class (Elliott & Cameron, 1994). These factors therefore may affect consumer attitude toward the product country-of-origin; not depending upon consumer knowledge of the exporting country. Using the framework from Nonaka’s (1985) New Methodological Approach as a starting point, the conceptual framework used in this study can be represented by a system of equally weighted factors comprising key successive variables. The conceptual framework is illustrated in Figure 1; it is comprised of four cornerstone events that generate an attitude based on perceptual beliefs. The base of the model is built around previous experience with the product in question. The consumers personal experience learning curve will most likely shape perception away from external influences such as media and peer attitudes shaping an attitude based on personal experience. When dealing with a product category that has a high degree of product choices the country-of-origin is the next variable to come into play. As discussed earlier in the literature review, Product-country images (PCIs) can shape a consumers purchase decision based on the domestic attitude of the country-of-origin (Papadopoulos, 1994). For example, when shopping for clothing in Canada consumers have the general attitude that Japanese-made clothing is very high in quality and longevity 22.

(23) compared to Chinese-made clothing. Even though the pricing may be completely polarized between the two COO’s, Canadian consumers will still have the perceptual belief that the Japanese products are much higher in quality. The demographics variable will be the next reasoning variable that comes into the equation of formulating consumer perception. Different demographic sections of the Canadian population will have different attitude ratings of each East Asian COO tag as each section is exposed to different levels of media, product usage and travel experience (Jacoby & Szybillo, 1977, Papadopoulos, 1987). Different demographic groups also socialize in common groups according to age, sex, ethnicity, religion and place-of-origin. These demographic based social groups will be influenced by intra-opinions about the different East Asian COO tags under review. Younger generations may be more positive toward Japanesemade products as the country is technologically advanced, whereas, religious groups may have a very low attitude opinion toward the China tag because of the Chinese governments aggressive policies toward religious segregation (Amnesty International, 2008). The last cornerstone the framework touches on the idea that before formulating the perceptual belief is perception reasoning. This formula variable is the last step in completing the country-of-origin effect before consumer beliefs.. 23.

(24) Figure 1: Framework for COO Effect Reasoning. 24.

(25) Chapter four: Methodology The main objective of this study is to provide reliable and valid consumer information about the Canadian market to private and public sources. The readers of this study will be provided with information to solve questions business and marketing problems, academic inquiries and further construct country-of-origin and other marketing research. I will collect primary data from consumers of different ethnic segments and age groups to obtain a thorough data pool. After data collection is complete, I can continue with an analysis revealing attitude change that will constitute this target information. The present research examines the process underlying consumers' attitudes toward products being imported into their domestic economies. With consumer ethnocentrism (Shimp and Sharma 1987) as the focal construct shaping reasoning, this article seeks to accomplish three objectives: first, it explicates the nature and role of consumer reasoning and ties this construct into a framework of related constructs. Next, it specifies the factors that moderate the effect of ethnocentric tendencies on consumers' attitudes toward imported products. Finally, hypotheses are subjected to an empirical test using data collected in Canada. This study will determine why Canadian consumers have a negative attitude of products originating, in the form of design and assembly from China and Taiwan (Roth & Romeo, 1992) (Samiee, 1994) and Taiwan (Watson & Wright, 2000); oppositely having a positive mindset toward products originating from Japan and Korea (Wright, 1999) (Kara & Kaynak, 2002). These positive and negative attitudes have already been researched; the main objective is to identify why the attitudes exist. After the reasoning is properly identified, its use can be. 25.

(26) determined by the reader. Lastly, use of any attitude reasoning will constitute new knowledge in the Canadian marketplace to be used by Canadian retailers and foreign manufacturers. A survey design utilizing a self-completion, on-site questionnaire was used to obtain the data needed to answer the research questions. The questionnaire field work was conducted by myself alone as the sample size did not require any outside surveyors. Over 300 electronic questionnaire responses were completed. An initial sample size of 300 (ignorant of sex) questionnaires yielded a useable return of 253 (97 men and 156 women), n=253, which was acceptable for a consumer panel as it represented 0.1% of regional population. When the final sample was compared to the Canadian population using 2007 census information, it was found to be upscale -- people with high school education or more and above average incomes were overrepresented. The sample was well distributed among urban and rural locales as the collection site was a well-known retail location, attracting consumers from the surrounding rural areas. However, French speaking respondents were unavailable as the survey was conducted in Western Canada. Middle aged consumer levels (>25 yrs) were overrepresented, while younger ages (<25 yrs) were underrepresented. Thus, the results cannot be accurately generalized to the Canadian population. However, the demographic diversity of the sample does allow meaningful trends and reasoning to be discussed. Also, older persons with higher education and job status may have the most purchasing power of any consumer group, and therefore can provide an important source of reason.. 26.

(27) 4.1 Site and Preparations Data collection was conducted from consumers living within the Kelowna urban area. This randomly collected cluster sample data will consist of a visually selected group of Canadian consumers, separated by age; demographic variables such as income, ethnicity and education level will be random. This strategy is to record a diverse data pool containing responses from Canadians of all backgrounds, properly representing the country’s diverse population. The controlled variables during the surveying period will be location and age. Surveys will only be conducted at the Real Canadian Superstore retail business in Kelowna, British Columbia, to ensure collection efficiency. Permission to conduct this survey was previously obtained before data collection.. 27.

(28) 4.2 Questionnaire The survey study was concentrated in one geographical location, the questionnaire was condensed (4 pages) and presented in three sections. The first section contained demographic information meant to divide arguments of separate consumer groups. Large numbers of consumers from ethnic minority groups (Chinese, central Asian) in the population were also chosen at random for the sample group. Questions in this section asked for respondents’ age, sex, income level, educational level and ethnic background. Section two of the questionnaire collected data pertaining to the respondent’s current attitude toward East Asian COO tags. Question 1 of this section asked for the respondents’ personal attitude toward each tag. If their current attitude differed from the information presented in the literature review, their response was tagged as unusable. Within the sample size, 47 respondents were separated from usable data. Questions 2 and 3 gathered data about educational and life experience deeming whether the respondents’ previous attitude was shaped by practical evidence or hearsay evidence gained from media exposure and acquaintanceship. Question 4 asked whether the respondent believes products/services originating from Taiwan have the same overall quality as those originating from China; the results of this question will suggest if Canadian consumer attitude toward Taiwanese products is directly influenced by the Chinese COO tag. Question 5 in the questionnaire collected data regarding consumer attitude reasoning. The data analysis will focus on data collected in this section. Respondents were presented with ten issues/factors also used by Amnesty International to construct foreign COO tag opinions by home country citizens (Amnesty International Canada, 2008). In each selection, 28.

(29) respondents pick 3 out of 10 factors that most influenced their attitude of each East Asian COO tag in Question one of section two. The same ten selections were used for both positive and negative COO tag groups to provide consistency and conclusion validity. Data from this question will explain consumer attitude reasoning, answering the thesis hypothesis. Question 6 of this section simply allowed respondents to provide reasoning factors that were not selectable in the previous question; none of the respondents utilized this section.. 29.

(30) Chapter Five: Results and Discussion 5.1 Overall Quality Images and Attitude Backgrounds Table 2, the distribution of responses charting attitude toward East Asian country-of-origin tags in the present are summarized, along with other opinions which expand upon these attitudes. In general, attitudes were neutral leaning toward positive toward Japanese, 66.4%, and Korean, 47.8%, COO tags. No respondents reported to have a negative attitude toward the Japan COO tag; these findings seem to suggest a country image-based halo effect as described by Han (1989). Attitudes were opposite when gathering data about China, 95.3% negative, and Taiwan 35.2% negative. Responses stating opposite opinions of previous information presented in the literature review were removed as “unusable data” to maintain data integrity.. 30.

(31) Table 2: Consumer Attitude and Knowledge of East Asian COO tags Consumer Attitude. Response Distribution % (N=253) Positive. Neutral. Negative. Japan South Korea China Taiwan. 66.4% 47.8% 0.0% 0.0%. 33.6% 52.2% 4.7% 64.8%. 0.0% 0.0% 95.3% 35.2%. YES. NO. Japan South Korea. 20.2% 5.1%. 79.8% 94.9%. China Taiwan. 11.5% 1.6%. 88.5% 98.4%. YES. NO. 0.8%. 99.2%. YES 46.2%. NO 53.8%. Q1. Consumer attitude toward each of the separate East Asian country-of-origin tags:. Q2. Have you ever travelled or lived in any of the separate East Asian countries:. Q3. Do you have an educational background specializing in East Asian languages, politics or history: Q4. Do you believe products originating from Taiwan have the same quality as those originating from China: *Z-Score = -14.72 (Not statistically significant). To explain these initial consumer attitudes the first sub-question explored the respondents’ travel of living experience in each of the East-Asian countries. Data in the table illustrated that the vast majority, 76.8% of respondents, had never experienced any East Asian country; the respondents who had travelled or lived in any East Asian country averaged 1.5 experiences within the four countries. The section dealing with educational background stated that 99.2% of respondents did not have any educational background dealing with East Asian languages, politics, history, etc. This information exemplifies the majority of Canadians do not have travel, living or educational experience with East Asian countries suggesting that these consumers gain their COO tag attitudes from media and hearsay influences.. 31.

(32) In the last question, 46.2% of respondents claimed that their quality perception of products originating from Taiwan was the same as their attitude toward products originating from mainland China. Even though the slim majority of respondents did not find Taiwanese products directly comparable to Chinese, the difference proved to be statistically insignificant with a z-score of -14.72; attitude toward the Taiwanese COO tag continues to be perceived as negative. This unhealthy comparison is supported by a large minority of respondents, suggesting that Taiwanese producers should invest into country image when promoting their products/services in the Canadian marketplace.. 32.

(33) 5.2 Attitude Factor Reasoning Factor ratings affecting Canadian consumer attitude toward East Asian COO tags are summarized in Table 3. Using the percentage totals of each factor per country in the total sample, domestic quality control measures was rated as the most influential factor (23.59% average total out of 100.00%) affecting consumer attitude. Research by Elliot and Cameron (1994) earlier examined the direct link between country-of-origin and product quality; the results in Table 3 prove this perception in attitude reasoning. This factor (quality control) measured most influential for every country with its highest rating in China, 28.9% of the total sample stated that China’s negative COO tag image comes from poor domestic quality control measures. Domestic workplace safety standards came in as a distant 2nd at 16.14% of the total sample average. Again, China had the highest factor percentage among East Asian countries as respondents agreed that this was the second factor most affecting their negative perception of Chinese made products; information supported by research from Roth & Romeo (1992). Two choices came close as being the 3rd factor most influencing Canadian consumer attitude toward East Asian COO tags: human rights investment and national environmental policies. Low investment into human rights more influenced negative consumer image of the Chinese tag (22.8%), while the data proved well-built national environmental policies to be a stronger influence on the positive COO tags of Japanese (16.50%) and Korean (12.30%) tags. Country-of-origin research by Wall and Liefeld (1991) states that consumer judgments are more shaped by positive imagery than existing negative factors. Following this research, National environmental policies become a more influential factor in consumer judgment reasoning furthering the gap in total sample average from human rights investment. Other factors that play important parts in the COO tag attitude reasoning of Canadian consumers are domestic economic development (9.06%) and 33.

(34) economic and political stability (9.26%). Taiwan was the only country that scored high with its domestic economic and political stability (20.0%) being an influence. This factor scored high among Canadian respondents and is most likely a result from the country’s international political status. Wang and Lamb (1983) found that North American consumers perceived the level of Taiwanese economic development to be higher than it actually is and still gave low evaluations of its products. This may be explained by Wang’s “political climate” variable. Table 3: Positive/Negative consumer attitude reasoning. Attitude Reasoning. Response Distribution %(N=253*3 choices) Positive. Factors. Negative. Japan 26.60%. Korea 19.40%. China 28.9%. Taiwan 19.5%. 11.10%. 10.90%. 25.8%. 16.7%. Domestic economic development. 9.00%. 15.90%. 0.9%. 10.4%. Human rights investment. 5.70%. 11.60%. 22.8%. 6.3%. 16.50%. 12.30%. 11.3%. 6.9%. Government system (Capitalism, Communism, etc.) Personal cultural knowledge/experience. 1.20%. 2.40%. 2.2%. 3.8%. 4.30%. 1.60%. 2.8%. 5.5%. Quality of living in country. 4.90%. 6.90%. 0.7%. 6.2%. Economic and Political stability in country. 6.60%. 7.00%. 3.4%. 20.0%. 14.10%. 12.00%. 1.2%. 4.6%. Domestic quality control measures Domestic workplace safety standards. National environmental policies. Domestic technological advancement. 34.

(35) 5.3 Demographics and attitudes toward East Asian COO tags To expand upon these results, the statements listed in table two were cross-tabulated with demographics. Table four contains a summary of descriptions determined from contingency tables. Some interesting trends can be summarized across statements. Middle-aged males were the most common to have a positive appeal toward both Japanese and Korean COO tags, while women were most negative toward China and Taiwan. Education was also a significant factor when determining consumer attitude toward COO tags; consumers with lower education were most likely to follow popular attitude trends. The only response that did not vary by age, younger age brackets, was the negative attitude toward the China COO tag. Corresponding to research by Ouellet (2007), respondents favoured COO tags that were similar to their own ethnicity; i.e. respondents with East Asian background were in most cases positive or neutral toward their ethnic tags; this was a visual observation made by the data researcher. These findings are not encouraging to Canadian industry, when it is considered that younger families will be the greatest consumer bracket in the future in a market supplied by imported general merchandise. However, opportunities arise when other demographic trends are considered. Those with higher income (items 1, 3) and higher educations (items 2, 3, 4) were most positive to developed country COO tags and least likely to buy the China tag. Looking at question 7, the respondents who agreed that Taiwanese products have the same quality as Chinese were majority low income and uneducated consumers; respondents in mid- and high level income brackets did not agree. These upscale-buyers who have the highest level of discretionary buying power, may also be the most likely to compare the. 35.

(36) Taiwan COO tag in the same upscale category as Japan and Korea. This is an opportunity for Taiwanese producers to adapt marketing and pricing strategies. Table 4: Demographic comparison among existing consumer attitude Attitude Statement 1. < Positive Japanese COO tag. 2. < Positive Korean COO tag. 3. < Negative Chinese COO tag. Demographic Variable (N=253) Sex and Age Income Description Education Level Ethnic Background Sex and Age Income Description Education Level Ethnic Background. 5. Travelled or lived in East Asia. 7.Taiwanese products have the same quality as Chinese. <.01. Mostly males in their 30's and 40's.. 0.02 0.05. Those with high incomes (>$80,000) were most positive. Those with mid-education (College) were most positive. Europeans were most positive.. <.01 0.01. Males and Females in their 20's and 30's.. 0.02 0.05. Attitude evenly distributed among classes. Those with high education (university) were most positive. Most non-Asians were neutral. All age levels below 60's were most negative. Those with high income (>$80,000) were most negative. 0.01 0.02. Younger females (10-29) were most negative.. Education Level Ethnic Background. 0.01 0.04. Those with high education (university) were most positive. Negative attitude evenly distributed among ethnicities.. Sex and Age. 0.02 0.01. High levels of experience among young males and females.. Sex and Age Income Description. Income Description Education Level Ethnic Background. 6. Educational background with East Asian major. <.01. Description of Relationship Trends. <.01 0.01 0.01 0.02. Sex and Age Income Description Education Level Ethnic Background. 4. < Negative Taiwanese COO tag. Significance Chi Test. <.01 0.05. Those with high education (university) were most negative. East Asians were most positive.. Those with low income (>$45,000) were most negative. Mid- to high-level incomes had more experience. Higher education levels had more travel experience. High experience level among European-Canadians.. Sex and Age Income Description Education Level Ethnic Background. 0.02 0.03 <.01 <.01. Young males in their 20's and 30's Mid-level incomes <$80,000 All respondents had a graduate level education. All European-Canadians (Caucasian). Sex and Age. 0.02. < Younger (10-29) females and males said no. Income Description. 0.03. Lower-level incomes >$45,000. Education Level. 0.02. Respondents with lower education (High school) said yes. Indian and European Canadians said yes; East Asians said no.. 0.05 Ethnic Background. 36.

(37) The percentage frequency of reasoning factors categorized by gender is summarized in Table 5. Using percentages in the total sample, domestic quality controls was the most chosen factor among respondents when explaining their negative and positive COO tag attitudes (23.4% on average with high score, 32.6% among male positive attitudes and a low of 13.3% among female positive attitudes). The second most chosen factor was domestic workplace safety standards in East Asian countries (15.5% on average with a high score of 22.8% among female negative attitude and low of 5.6% among male negative attitude). Domestic quality control measures and workplace safety standards were the most influential reasoning factors while the concentration between sexes was more widely distributed among other popular factors. Investment into human rights was the second most influential factor causing a negative attitude toward Chinese and Taiwanese products among women (21.6%), while economic and political stability caused a negative attitude among males (18.7%). Wang and Lamb (1980) suggested that the political orientation of a country (capitalist, socialist, communist) substantially affects its quality image resulting from beliefs about values of the political-economic system overshadowing the formation of attitudes toward the goods themselves. Only partial support is given here. Capitalist countries do dominate the high ratings, while communist countries fall lower. However, the ratings seem related more to the level of economic development than to political orientation. National environmental policy was a positive influential factor among both male (11.2%) and female (15.6%) respondents; domestic technological advancement (13.5%) was only a popular factor when measuring male popular attitude toward Japanese and Korean COO tags. Research by Han and Terpstra (1988) also completed information showing American consumers’ support of Japanese and Korean products, focusing on electronics, having superior quality to that of their domestic equivalents. 37.

(38) Table 5: Reasoning Factors by Gender variable. Attitude Reasoning. Response Distribution %(N=253*3 choices) Positive Negative. Factors. Male 32.6%. Female 13.3%. Male 28.0%. Female 19.5%. Average 23.4%. Domestic workplace safety standards. 5.6%. 17.8%. 15.7%. 22.8%. 15.5%. Domestic economic development. 10.9%. 11.6%. 4.1%. 11.2%. 9.5%. Human rights investment. 4.6%. 12.7%. 7.5%. 21.6%. 11.6%. 11.2%. 15.6%. 8.5%. 10.1%. 11.4%. Government system (Capitalism, Communism, etc.) Personal cultural knowledge/experience. 3.6%. 1.2%. 6.0%. 0.0%. 2.7%. 5.2%. 4.9%. 3.8%. 2.5%. 4.1%. Quality of living in country. 4.2%. 10.3%. 3.9%. 3.0%. 5.4%. Economic and Political stability in country Domestic technological advancement. 8.6%. 7.0%. 18.7%. 8.3%. 10.7%. 13.5%. 5.6%. 3.8%. 1.0%. 6.0%. Domestic quality control measures. National environmental policies. Number of Respondents. 142. 111. 142. 111. 38.

(39) Chapter Six: Conclusion Generally, Canadian consumers seemed supportive of high domestic quality control measures and workplace safety standards in East Asian countries-of-origin. Imports have continually eroded domestic markets for many manufactured goods and will continue to do so if East Asian exporters can improve their image weaknesses in export product categories. Attitude reasoning was spread out among multiple factors depending on the countryof-origin, but important trends can also be identified in consumer demographics. Age and education were the most frequently significant demographic variables. Respondents with higher education seemed to have the most extreme attitudes (positive and negative) toward the COO tags. As Lee and Heslop (1991) stated in their earlier research, education exposes the consumer to deeper insights and evaluations allowing for them to expand the buyer decision process. The attitudes of highly educated respondents can be used as an important variable to overall consumer attitude in a society. Turning attention to the age variable, there was a constant negative attitude toward the China COO tag and positive attitude toward Japanese and Korean COO tags; younger respondents did not hold a negative attitude toward the Taiwan COO tag. Similar to the values in Johansson and Nonaka’s (1985) research, age was considered a key demographic variable because it shaped future trends and preferences. In this study, younger age groups concentrated their responses among specific reasoning factors unveiling exactly where East Asian manufacturers should be investing to sell their products to Canadians consumers. One of the factors popular among younger respondents (Table 3) was the environment policies of each country-of-origin. East Asian governments should profit from celebrating breakthroughs in environmental policies and 39.

(40) ideals (Chao, 1998). Government initiatives which seriously address these popular issues could go further to building the demand for East Asian-made goods and stimulating the economy than can current efforts including protectionist policies in Japan and loose environmental and human rights policies in China. Canadian consumers have good will toward Japanese and Korean-made products and want to believe that these products offer them what they want. Women, who are the primary purchase agent for goods, were especially negative toward Chinese and Taiwanese-made products. Yet many of the younger women believed that product quality would improve in the future, showing promises for these COO tags – showing that there is room for improvement. Female consumers showed a great concern for the laborers making the goods as investment into human rights and workplace safety standards were considered to be the two most influential factors affecting China’s negative COO tag image. With continued economic development and growing middle class, these factors will most likely become less of a concern among foreign media in the future. This research adopts a survey analysis method which is necessary to gather both quantitative and qualitative data that initially did not exist. It provided significant insights into the research problem. With this study, I begin to contribute a deeper understanding of consumer reasoning and demographic influence surrounding the COO effect influencing imported products from East Asian countries. Creating a uniform attitude in a multicultural population may be inevitable; knowing the links between cultures and purchasing behavior and realizing the market’s preferences will help reduce uncertainty about marketing construal and strategy. At the same time, knowledge of origin preferences may help importers and exporters better understand and 40.

(41) interpret their audience’s purchasing reasoning and find ways to bridge gaps created by attitude differences (Nonaka, Douglas & Johansson, 1985).. 41.

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(47) National Sun Yat-sen University The following survey has been designed to collect consumer data dealing with visual and psychological attitudes among Canadian consumers towards advertising in Canada. If a participant has any questions or concerns they should directly contact Garrett Mellon @ 1-250-718-2520 or garrett.mellon@gmail.com. Section One – Demographics GENDER. Male. Female. Age category. X. 10 – 19 years 20 – 29 years 30 – 39 years 40 – 49 years 50 – 65 years Over 65 years. Income Description (Annually). X. Education Level. X. Under $45,000. High School. Between $45,000 - $80,000. College/Technical School. Between $80,000 - $150,000. University. Above $150,000. Graduate and Above. Ethnic Background (please choose only one) South American. European. African. East Asian. Central Asian. Latin. Oceanic. Southeast Asian Russian. Middle East. Other. 47.

(48) Section Two – Consumer Attitude 1.. Please express your personal attitude toward each of the separate East Asian country-of-origin tags: Consumer Attitude toward East Asian COO tags COO tag. Negative Attitude. Neutral. Positive Attitude. Japanese Korean China Taiwan. 2.. Have you ever travelled or lived in any of the separate East Asian countries: Personal Experience (travel or living) Country. No. Yes. Japan South Korea China Taiwan. 3.. Do you have an educational background specializing in East Asian languages, politics or history? YES. 4.. NO. Do you believe products/services originating from Taiwan have the same overall quality as those originating from China? YES. NO. 48.

(49) Section Three – Consumer Attitude Reasoning 5.. Please select the three greatest reasons that influenced your attitude of each East Asian COO tag in Question one:. Attitude Reasoning Positive. Japan. Korea. China. Taiwan. Japan. Korea. China. Taiwan. Domestic quality control measures Domestic workplace safety standards Domestic economic development Human rights investment National environmental policies Government system (Capitalism, Communism, etc.) Personal cultural knowledge/experience Quality of living in country Economic and Political stability in country Domestic technological advancement. Attitude Reasoning Negative Domestic quality control measures Domestic workplace safety standards Domestic economic development Human rights investment National environmental policies Government system (Capitalism, Communism, etc.) Personal cultural knowledge/experience Quality of living in country Economic and Political stability in country Domestic technological advancement. 49.

(50) 6.. Do you feel that the choices provided allowed you to fully explain your attitude reasoning toward East Asian COO tags: YES. NO. If No, please provide a factor explaining your reasoning toward any of the East Asian COO tags:. CHINA. JAPAN. SOUTH KOREA. TAIWAN. 50.

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