Abstract | Skoro šest desetljeća kontinuiranog istraživanja utjecaja podrijetla proizvoda i usluga na njihovu evaluaciju od strane potrošača, ukazuje na daljnju zaintrigiranost znanstvenika u području marketinga fenomenom efekta zemlje podrijetla proizvoda i usluga. Ipak, stvaranje proizvoda i usluga u uvjetima globalizacije, potiče dilemu glede preciziranja podrijetla proizvoda i usluga, time stvarajući prostora daljnjem širenju znanja unutar ovog područja. Shodno tome, ovaj se doktorski rad bavi definiranjem i testiranjem modela koji predstavlja unaprijeđeni koncept podrijetla proizvoda i usluga. Unutar modela ovoga rada, podrijetlo proizvoda i usluga je apstrahirano od same zemlje podrijetla, obzirom da sadržava i segment podrijetla marke, a koji zalazi i u aspekt kulturnog podrijetla marke. Provedenim istraživanjem, potvrđene su uloge etnocentrizma i imidža zemlje kao prediktora efekta podrijetla proizvoda i usluga, dok se posredništvo stava o zemlji podrijetla proizvoda i usluge, stava o marki i kulturnog podrijetla marke, ovisno o tome jesu li se promatrali proizvodi ili usluge, također pokazalo značajnim. Time su se upotpunila dosadašnja znanja o efektu podrijetla kako proizvoda i usluga, tako i marki, pokazujući kako dionici podrijetla sadržani u njima imaju simultani učinak na potrošače pripadnike generacije Z u Hrvatskoj. |
Abstract (english) | The product and service origin effect seems to be evolving as globalization processes change the way brands around the world try to appeal to target segments. To be more relevant and attractive to a particular market, brands today often resort to branding their products and services with a local or global culture of origin.Moreover, it is precisely such brand strategies that support the long-standing practice of spreading the manufacture of products and services around the world, resulting in a dispersion of their origin. The diversity and complexity of product, service, and brand origins are the central part of this thesis, which is reflected in the dedication to the precise definition of the most commonly used terms of product, service, and brand origins. Furthermore, this is reflected in the definition of a model that addresses this complexity. This paper follows up on the previous empirical findings, on the basis of which the model was defined.
The latter was tested by surveying Generation Z students in Croatia utilizing two products and one service, testing three main hypotheses and related sub-hypotheses. The first hypothesis was that brand attitude and country of product and service origin attitude mediate the influence of ethnocentrism on product and service attitude. The second hypothesis stated that brand attitude and country of product and service origin attitude mediate the influence of country image on product and service attitude. The third hypothesis was that brand attitude and culture of brand origin mediate the influence of country image on product and service attitude. All hypotheses were tested with additional sub-hypotheses, within which it was examined whether there is a separate and then joint mediation of the mentioned origin stakeholders in the relationships between the independent variables and dependent variables of the model.
The results of the model analysis showed that country of product and service origin attitude and brand attitude are separate mediators, but they are also common mediators when it comes to the effect of ethnocentrism on product and service attitude. In addition, the hypothesis that country of product and service origin attitude and brand attitude are joint mediators of the country image effect on product and service attitude was accepted as true, but also that they are separate mediators depending on whether the model was applied to a product or a service, which is why the second hypothesis was only partially accepted as true. Specifically, the country of product and service origin attitude was found to be a mediator when products were involved, while brand attitude was a significant mediator when service was involved. Finally, according to the results of testing the third hypothesis, which was also partially accepted as true, brand attitude did not prove to be a significant mediator of the country image effect on product and service attitude, both in case of products and service in matter. In contrast, the joint mediation of brand attitude and culture of brand origin proved to be significant in all models considered. In addition to demonstrating the significance of certain relationships between variables, this thesis provided insights into the predictive power of the model. The results of the predictive power procedures showed that this model's predictive power is high, which is which is one of the most important aspects of the model, as it means that the obtained results can be interpreted for the entire population of Generation Z students in Croatia.
Despite the fact that not all hypotheses were fully accepted as true, the scientific and applied contributions of this paper are undeniable. The latter is reflected not only in verifying the importance of previously unexamined relationships between product, service and brand origin stakeholders, but also in the model's applicability to products and services, and in its proven high predictive power. The results of this research have shown that product and service origin can no longer be identified exclusively with the country of origin, but that this phenomenon must be considered and interpreted in several layers. This is mainly reflected in the complexity of the relationships between already known product, service and brand origin components, but also in the fact that the culture of brand origin factor was present here as well. The latter is an aspect of brand origin that is as abstract as it is important, since it goes beyond the general country of product and service origin concept, which is mainly linked to geographical factors of origin, and therefore reaches something that is intangible and extremely valuable.
In conclusion, this thesis opens the door to various possibilities of expanding studies on the impact of product and service origin, which are of paramount importance in the world of rapid change and thus the consumers' changing preferences for products and services depending on their origin. |