COUNTRY OF ORIGIN, ANIMOSITY AND BRAND PERCEPTION

Abstract

The consumers’ perception regarding a product’s country of origin, which may sometimes include negative feelings towards that country, may influence their decision to choose or reject that product. The current research aims to identify the extent to which the country of origin affects the purchasing behaviour of the fuels distributed by the various foreign networks present on the local market in Iasi, Romania. We chose to look at this issue because no research has been done on this topic locally, although this issue of perceiving the brand in terms of a possible animosity towards its home country is of utmost importance. The research method is a quantitative one, conducted by online survey based on a questionnaire. The sample targeted for research is represented by Romanian persons located in Iasi who own a motor vehicle fuelled on a regular basis by themselves.

Keywords

• country of origin
• animosity
• brand perception
• Iasi