Purpose

This research draws upon construal level theory to investigate how brands can develop effective international marketing strategies using country image versus product image across international markets with different cultural distances between them.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reports two preliminary studies and three experimental studies in the context of Australian brands using a “clean and green” image. The preliminary studies explore how product versus country image and cultural similarity are related to construal levels. Then, Study 1 examines consumers from different countries as a proxy of cultural distance, whereas Studies 2 and 3 manipulate levels of cultural distance to test the effects on consumers. Moreover, Study 3 also uses a behavioral outcome as the focal dependent variable and tests the underlying mechanism.

Findings

The results demonstrate a significant interaction effect between country-of-origin positioning and cultural distance, such that an Australian brand emphasizing the country (vs product) image gains more favorable responses among consumers with high levels of cultural distance. Conversely, an Australian brand emphasizing the product (vs country) image gains more favorable responses among consumers with low levels of cultural distance. Further, this research identifies perceived brand cultural authenticity as the underlying process driving the interaction effect.

Originality/value

The findings of this research contribute to the literature on international marketing in general and the country-of-origin literature in particular by examining country-of-origin positioning and cultural distance from the construal level perspective. The research also provides managerial implications on how to promote products in the international market across different cultural distances.

中文翻译：

---

原产国定位与文化距离对国际广告效果的交互作用：一个解释层面的视角

目的

本研究利用解释水平理论来调查品牌如何利用国家形象与产品形象在不同文化距离的国际市场上制定有效的国际营销策略。

设计/方法/方法

该论文报告了在澳大利亚品牌使用“清洁和绿色”形象的背景下的两项初步研究和三项实验研究。初步研究探讨了产品与国家形象和文化相似性如何与解释水平相关。然后，研究 1 将来自不同国家的消费者作为文化距离的代表进行检验，而研究 2 和 3 则操纵文化距离的水平来测试对消费者的影响。此外，研究 3 还使用行为结果作为焦点因变量并测试潜在机制。

发现

结果表明，原产国定位与文化距离之间存在显着的交互作用，因此强调国家（与产品）形象的澳大利亚品牌在文化距离较高的消费者中获得了更有利的反应。相反，强调产品（相对于国家）形象的澳大利亚品牌在文化距离较低的消费者中获得了更有利的反应。此外，本研究将感知的品牌文化真实性确定为驱动互动效应的潜在过程。

原创性/价值

这项研究的结果通过从解释水平的角度检查原产国定位和文化距离，有助于一般国际营销的文献，特别是原产国文献。该研究还为如何在不同文化距离的国际市场上推广产品提供了管理启示。