A cross-national investigation of price and brand as determinants of perceived product quality.

Price and brand image as determinants of product quality evaluations were investigated in a study that employed a 2X2X3 factorial design with nationality, brand, and price as main effects. The product was a previously unknown soft drink concentrate. Subjects were 181 American and 164 French undergraduate students. Subject and brand main effects, and two of the interaction effects (Subject X Brand and Subject X Brand X Price) were statistically significant. French subjects evaluated both brands as being of higher quality than did American subjects, and the French brand was evaluated higher than the American brand. In addition, the nature of the price-product quality evaluation relationship differed between nationalities and between brands.