Product ethnicity and perceived consumer authenticity: the moderating role of product type

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate an antecedent of perceived authenticity in the relationship between product ethnicity (PE) and evaluations of foreign products. Moreover, the present study explores roles of product involvement and product type as moderators in the relationship between PE and authenticity. Design/methodology/approach A pretest was conducted to guide the selection of the product type utilized in the survey. With 200 South Korean panel data in Study 1, hypotheses were analyzed using multiple regression following the procedures outlined by Baron and Kenny (1986). With 288 US panel data in Study 2, mediation effects were analyzed using PROCESS by Hayes (2013). Findings The study provides strong evidences of the full mediating role of perceived authenticity between PE and consumer evaluations of foreign products. Experience goods accentuate the impact of congruent PE on authenticity relative to search goods. However, the product involvement as a moderator is not significant. Practical implications International marketing practitioners should attend to the importance of how source country consumers perceive the authenticity of foreign product. In particular, insights from findings will provide international marketers with a means to assess the efficacy of strategic communication messages designed to establish a perception of authenticity in the minds of consumers and a more effective approach to market segmentation in the foreign markets. Originality/value This study suggests the addition of authenticity into future studies of country of origin (COO) effects. As authenticity fully mediates the relationship between PE and product image evaluations, this study suggests the congruent product-country match as a signal of authenticity, in addition to product image. Moreover, this finding extends literature on COO effects by discussing the importance of authenticity in the context of experience goods relative to search goods.