Abstract:

The influence exerted by the image of a country on the evaluation processes referring to products or brands from that country (Figiel, 2004) along with consumers’ attitudes and behaviour (Sikora, 2008; Balabanis and Diamantopoulos, 2011) is referred to as the COO (country of origin) effect. The term was introduced into expert literature by Schooler in 1965 when he provided an analysis of the perception of products exported from the countries of Central America. Since then the problem has already become one of the most frequently analysed subjects in the field of international marketing and consumers’ behaviour (for relevant literature reviews, see eg: Bilkey and Nes, 1982, Al-Sulaiti and Baker, 1998; Peterson and Jolibert 1995; Javalgi et al., 2001; Pharr 2005; Rezvani  et al., 2012; Saran and Gupta, 2012). In comparison to the number of research studies on the impact of the COO in the field of material goods, scientists have paid relatively scarce attention to that phenomenon in the field of services. As a result, the subject has not been sufficiently analysed so far (Javalgi et al., 2001, Ahmed et al, 2002; Chattalas at al., 2008; d'Astous et al., 2008). The reason for such a situation is the fact that the value of international trade of services has been considerably lower than the value of international trade of goods (e.g.: it is two or three times lower in the countries of the European Union; Eurostat, 2013).