Eastern Europe and product-country images: A longitudinal analysis of the competitiveness of Eastern European products

The main objective of this study was to assess Canadian perceptions toward selected Eastern European countries and their products at different points in time. New data was collected in 2000 and was compared to data collected in 1992 and 1995 as part of a longitudinal research program developed by Papadopoulos and Heslop. The results of the longitudinal analysis showed very little change in consumer attitudes toward Eastern Europe between 1992 and 2000. Although consumers admitted to having relatively little knowledge of the countries and products of Eastern Europe, they were found, nevertheless, to have distinct and consistent images of each of the countries studied. Russia was shown to have a clear disadvantage over the other Eastern European countries, while Poland's country and product images revealed the most improvement over time. Another objective of the study was to test a model of country-of-origin effects on buyer behaviour developed by Papadopoulos and Heslop (1997) using structural equation modeling techniques. The results were encouraging. Overall model fit was acceptable and support was found for the majority of the hypothesized structural relationships.