The Multidimensional Nature of Product Perceptions within Asia

This paper seeks to understand how Asian consumers perceive Asian products, a topic that has received surprisingly little academic scrutiny to date. We demonstrate that there are systematic differences in perception effects across diverse product categories. These systematic differences are multidimensional and are interpretable in terms of country image as technology and fashion expertise. The authors demonstrate empirically that country of origin effects drive product perception in the region and that country of origin is a multidimensional construct that transcends product categories and regions. We do this using a novel methodological approach that analyzes data on product evaluations and on county perceptions simultaneously using a probabilistic spatial model. Understanding perceptions in multidimensional terms imply that developing countries should not simply imitate the strongest economy in a region, but should seek strong differentiated competitive positions. It also implies that this type of methodology is needed to flesh out the nuances of multidimensionality after accounting for other systematic product perception effects, such as consumer ethnocentrism, on behavior. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015