One More Time: Does Country Image Influence Consumers' Willingness to Pay?

Drawing on equity theory, we apply van Westendorp’s price sensitivity meter (PSM) in an experimental setting to compare the “pricing footprints” of a fictitious brand associated with countries differing in their country image favorability. This footprint is captured by the different price levels for which consumers find the focal brand to be (a) too cheap (i.e. raise concerns about its quality), (b) cheap (i.e. seem like a bargain), (c) expensive (i.e. not cheap but would still consider buying it), and (d) too expensive (i.e. priced so high as to prevent purchase). In doing so, we control for several consumer traits (consumer ethnocentrism, cosmopolitanism, price sensitivity and product involvement) that might conceivably impact consumers’ price-related responses. We find that significant differences in country image assessments do not uniformly translate into significant differences across all components of the pricing footprint. Moreover, even if such differences are observed, they do not apply to all focal countries. Finally, we reveal a non-linear relationship between country image favorability and consumer’s willingness to pay (WTP). Implications for country-of-origin research and practice are considered and suggestions for future research made.