Over the past years, the Volkswagen emissions scandal has been part of an enduring discussion in the Western media on corporate responsibility (or lack thereof). With its slogan “Das Auto,” the world’s second-largest automobile producer had successfully positioned itself as a German company in both the domestic and foreign markets, with the aim of benefitting from Germany’s positive country image. The emissions scandal, however, may have harmed not only the VW brand but also the “Made in Germany” label in general. This exploratory article shows that there are strong signals that this transgression indeed has led to a reverse country-of-origin effect, compromising Germany’s positive image. The authors demonstrate that this effect varied across product categories and customers’ cultural affiliations and that the perceived impact of the brand transgression on the country image increased over time.

中文翻译：

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大众汽车排放丑闻是否损害了“德国制造”的形象？跨文化、跨产品、跨时间的研究

在过去的几年里，大众汽车排放丑闻一直是西方媒体关于企业责任（或缺乏企业责任）的持久讨论的一部分。凭借“Das Auto”的口号，这家世界第二大汽车生产商成功地在国内外市场上将自己定位为一家德国公司，旨在从德国积极的国家形象中受益。然而，排放丑闻可能不仅损害了大众品牌，还损害了“德国制造”的整体标签。这篇探索性文章表明，有强烈信号表明这种违规行为确实导致了原产国效应的逆转，损害了德国的正面形象。