Abstract:

Country of origin effect refers to the influence of country of origin on consumers’ perception and evaluation of a product. This research explores the impact of consumers’ power distance on country of origin effect. Through two experiments, the results suggest that power distance has a polarizing impact on country of origin effect. That means, for products with favorable country of origin, the higher the consumers’ power distance, the better their evaluation of the products; for products with unfavorable country of origin, the higher the power distance, the worse their evaluation of the products. The research also finds the moderating effect of consumers’ competence-related country related affect (CRA).When having positive competence-related CRA, for products with favorable country of origin, the higher the consumers’ power distance, the better their evaluation of the products. For products with unfavorable country of origin, consumers’ power distance has no effect. When having negative competence-related CRA, for products with favorable country of origin, consumers’ power distance has no effect. While for products with unfavorable country of origin, the higher the consumers’ power distance, the worse their evaluation of the products.

Key words: power distance, country of origin, polarizing influence, country-related affec