Where are you from? The influence of an unfamiliar sub-national region of origin from familiar and unfamiliar countries on quality perceptions and purchase intentions

This paper examines how consumer quality perceptions and purchase intentions are influenced by country of origin level, specifically for an unfamiliar region of origin (ROO) and by parent country familiarity. We conducted an experiment among Norwegian consumers testing products from Germany (familiar) or Bulgaria (unfamiliar) versus unfamiliar sub-national regions in these two countries. We found that a strategy to help overcome initial negative reactions for products from unfamiliar countries, specifically among younger consumers, may be to add the unfamiliar sub-national region to the product information. However, simply labelling a product with an unfamiliar sub-national region when the product comes from a familiar country is inadvisable. To our knowledge, no previous research has used a trivial COO attribute, (i.e., unfamiliar sub-national region) to influence perceptions for products from unfamiliar countries. The current research finds communication of an unfamiliar ROO can influence quality perceptions and purchase intentions in a foreign market entry.