A Study On The Mechanism Of Influence Of Source Country Image On Brand Identity Of Imported Car Consumers Based On Performance And Institutions

In the context of economic globalisation,goods can be distributed between countries around the world.In this context,the importance of the image of the country of origin becomes particularly important if the consumer is less familiar with the product itself.Since 2010,with the popularity of Korean dramas in China and the rise of Korean pop stars in China,Korean beauty brands have been developing in the Chinese market at a very fast pace and have been warmly welcomed by Chinese consumers.However,due to the negative impact of the SAD incident,many high-profile Korean beauty brands have experienced a certain degree of decline in business revenue,and from 2013 to 2019,the growth rate of Korean beauty brands’ exports to China has continuously fallen from 66% to 14%,starting to show a declining development.Also,after the Diaoyu Islands incident in 2012,Japanese car brands saw a sharp drop in sales,with a decline of around 40% by the end of the same year,and a year-on-year drop of5.3%,6.6% and 2.9% for Toyota,Nissan and Honda respectively the following year.This also proves that the deterioration of the image of the country of origin has led to a change in the evaluation of consumers’ attitudes towards their brands.The impact of country of origin image has long been a focus of research for many scholars in the field of corporate internationalisation strategy and international marketing due to its importance.However,there has been a great deal of research on how the image of the country of origin is formed and the mechanisms by which it influences consumer behaviour,but so far there has been no unanimous agreement between domestic and international scholars.The research on the influence of the image of the country of origin has mainly focused on the mechanisms of consumer purchase intentions and has long neglected the existence of the important psychological factor of brand identity.However,previous research has shown that brand identity is an important variable that positively influences consumer behaviour,promoting in-role behaviours such as use,payment and repeat purchase,as well as extra-role behaviours such as word-of-mouth publicity and resistance to negative information.As an important influencing factor for companies to maintain their long-term competitive advantage,brand identity should be introduced as an important variable in the study of the impact of source country image.Therefore,this paper takes the image of the country of origin as the research object,and tries to investigate whether the image of the country of origin has an impact on consumers’ brand identity and the mechanism of its influence.Based on the above analysis,this paper divides the overall concept of source country image into the second-order concepts of performance image and institutional image,examines the different influence mechanisms of the two second-order concepts on individual brand identity and social brand identity,and analyses the mediating effects of function and emotional value in the above influence mechanisms,so as to construct a research model of the influence mechanism of source country image on consumers’ brand identity.In this way,a model of the influence of country of origin on consumer brand identity is constructed.The initial questionnaire for this study was then designed by drawing on the established scales and combining the characteristics of imported cars in the research product category.The following four conclusions were obtained from the empirical analysis:（1）the image of the source country’s performance positively influences the functional value perceived by consumers,and the image of the source country’s system positively influences the emotional value perceived by consumers;（2）both the functional value and emotional value perceived by consumers positively influence consumers’ individual identity,and the emotional value positively influences consumers’ social identity;（3）the image of the source country’s system positively influences consumers’ brand identity（4）In terms of the mediating effect of functional value,it fully mediates between source country performance image and individual identity,while it partially mediates between source country institutional image and individual identity;in terms of the mediating effect of affective value,it partially mediates between institutional image and brand identity.Finally,based on the findings of the study,suggestions for countermeasures are made to enterprises and governments respectively.From the perspective of enterprises,two management suggestions are made: to enhance functional value through performance behaviour and to enhance emotional value through institutional behaviour.The performance behaviours include focusing on technological innovation,internal organisational restructuring and brand communication.Institutional behaviour includes strict enforcement of industry standards,promoting compliance with social norms that support the host country,strengthening the promotion of positive institutional factors in the country of origin of the brand,and integrating into the local market through strategic alliances and other forms of linkages.From the government’s perspective,two countermeasures are suggested,including a clear positioning of the country’s image and an emphasis on diversified promotional and marketing channels.