Italy’s country image and the role of ethnocentrism in Spanish and Chinese consumers’ perceptions

The chapter presents the results of a survey aimed to analyze the Country of Origin (COO) effect on consumer buying behavior. A research model testing the COO’s multidimensionality – Country Image (CI), Product Country Image (PCI) and Country Related Product Image (CRPI) – on the Spanish and Chinese consumer intention to buy Italian shoes is applied, verifying the level of product/country of origin’s consistency (FIT), as well as the role of ethnocentrism (CE). 312 questionnaires were collected and processed through structural equations modelling. Results show that COO influences consumers intention to buy through a causal link within the three dimensions, while CE plays a significant, even if weak, role on COO only in the Spanish context and for the CI and CRPI dimensions. Scientific and managerial implications are derived.