Consumer processing of international advertising: The roles of country of origin perception, consumer ethnocentrism, and country attitude

This research examines the impacts of consumers' three cross-national individual difference variables--country-of-origin perceptions, consumer ethnocentrism, and country attitudes--on their responses and attitudes toward foreign advertisements and advertised products. I propose a model of consumer processing of international advertising that consolidates a dual-element paradigm of international advertising, research on consumer processing of advertising, and several streams of research on cross-national individual difference variables. Empirical analysis of the hypothetical model through structural equation modeling yields supportive results: positive effects of consumers' country attitudes on their responses to the creative presentation of international advertising, and positive effects of consumers' country-of-origin perceptions on their responses to the buying proposal of international advertising. However, I did not find the hypothesized negative effects of consumer ethnocentrism on their responses to international advertising. This study may contribute to our understanding of cross-national individual difference variables that precede and determine consumers' attitudes toward international advertising. This research also has practical implications for the standardization versus localization debate in international advertising (and marketing) strategy.