The interplay among brand origin, country-of-design, and country-of manufacturing in the context of low-familiarity Italian fashion brands

This study explores the effects of three specific components of the country-of-origin construct (COO), i.e., brand origin (BO), country-of-design (COD), and country-of manufacturing (COM) on consumer perceptions in a context of low-familiarity fashion brands. An empirical experiment was conducted on a sample of 256 Polish female consumers. The experiment manipulated two low-familiarity brands with different perceived brand origins and two different countries with opposing perceived ability to design and manufacture. Outcome variables included perceived product quality, brand image, and purchase intentions. Results showed that in the context of low-familiarity brands BO plays a dominant effect over COD and COM, and that COD and COM, in turn, exert an opposite effect on the outcome variables under a situation of low vs. high BO. Based on such results, contributions and managerial implications are outlined.