Country image effect on Taiwanese consumers' willingness to buy from neighboring countries

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated model of Taiwanese consumers' willingness to buy from China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Design/methodology/approach Using 284 completed questionnaires, LISREL and multi‐group analysis were employed to examine the relationships among country image, product beliefs, affect, familiarity, world‐mindedness, and willingness to buy. Findings The empirical research results showed that country image has no direct influence on Taiwanese consumers' willingness to buy, but it has indirect influence on Taiwanese consumers' willingness to buy via product beliefs. However, affect has both direct and indirect influence on Taiwanese consumers' willingness to buy, and affect is observed to have stronger influence on product belief than on Taiwanese consumers' willingness to buy. Practical implications Taiwanese enterprises having ongoing mass production in China are recommended to prominently feature their original Taiwanese brand names and technology cooperation with developed countries to build up positive country image. Originality/value By introducing the concept of world‐mindedness, this research generalized the conclusion drawn by earlier research in the context of Taiwan.