Bridging the gap between country and destination image: Assessing common facets and their predictive validity
2015, Journal of Business Research, 68(9), pp.1844-1853
Country image
Destination image
Country cognitions
Country affect
Country personality
Abstract
People form gestalt country perceptions encompassing production, investment, and tourism perspectives. Surprisingly, country image research exists in two parallel research streams—country of origin and destination—with almost no cross-references between them. This study develops a holistic model of country-of-origin image (COI) and destination image (DI) that unites both research streams and tests the relative importance of cognitive, affective, and symbolic country connotations to predict three consumer behavior outcome intentions (1) purchasing products and services, (2) traveling abroad, and (3) conducting business with foreign companies. Results reveal that overall, affective, and symbolic image dimensions complement and outperform cognitive dimensions. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications and guidelines for further research.