THE IMPACT OF CONSUMER NEED FOR UNIQUENESS ON COUNTRY OF ORIGIN EFFECTS

摘要

This study, through a two by two between-subjects experimental design, attempts to clarify the possible impacts of consumer need for uniqueness on country of origin effects. Product typicality and consumer need for uniqueness were adopted as the two factors of the experiment. The recruitment of 416 participants confirmed that although typical products of a country are evaluated more positively than the less typical ones, in general, consumers with a high need for uniqueness are keener to purchase atypical products of a country than consumers with a low need for uniqueness. Thus, international marketers can promote their products by stressing the unique features of products that are not typical of their country of origin.