Brand origin and consumers' pereceptions of apparel product attributes relating to quality

Abstract

This study examined the influence of perceived brand origin on United States consumers' perceptions of apparel product attributes related to quality. This study particularly focused on brand origin as a potential cue that consumers use to evaluate the quality of apparel products from three countries: United States, China and Italy. A literature Review was provided to show the link and evolution of country of origin literature and brand origin. The Associative Network Memory theory provided the theoretical framework for understanding why consumers use secondary cues such as brand origin information when forming their opinions and purchasing products. The results of this study concluded that consumers rated Italian brand the highest in quality, United States brands where rated second highest in quality and Chinese brands where rated the lowest in quality. Results also indicated that the more educated and the longer a consumer lived in the United States the more a consumer thinks about the brand origin of a product. Finally, this study's results also indicated that a consumers' age, gender, income, ethnicity and ethnocentrism did not affect their perceptions of apparel product quality based on brand origin. This study showed that brand origin perceptions do play a large role when consumers' are making inferences about the quality of an apparel item.