Chinese consumers’ evaluation of foreign products: the influence of culture, product types and product presentation format

Abstract Underlines that marketers are interested in how consumers evaluate products sourced from overseas. Observes that, along with the globalization of business, more developing countries have become feasible markets for a variety of consumer goods manufactured in industrialized countries, yet relatively little research has investigated how consumers in those emerging markets evaluate foreign‐sourced products. Focuses on Chinese consumers' evaluation of products made in the USA, Japan and South Korea. Suggests that country‐of‐origin (COO) information significantly influences Chinese subjects' evaluation of the products from these countries, with a hierarchy of country of origin effects existing among the sample of Chinese consumers. Determines that products from the USA and Japan received more favourable ratings than those from South Korea and, contrary to prior belief, cultural similarity did not seem to moderate the COO effect. However, finds that product type and how COO and other product information were communicated to the subjects did seem to influence the subjects' product evaluation.