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Hsieh, Ya-Yun (2010) Taiwanese Consumers’ Perceptions of Local and Global Brands: An Investigation in Taiwan Computer Industry. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This study aims to investigate how consumers in a newly developed country, Taiwan, perceive local brands and global brands in the computer industry. To access an in-depth understanding and evaluate factors that influence consumers’ assessment of local and global brands, the country-of-origin effect and the association of brand origin are investigated; the effect of consumer ethnocentrism is addressed; and the cultural aspects on collectivism and face concept are examined.

The study adopts qualitative research method via an in-depth and semi-structured interview to gain a further understanding on consumers’ insights. Two groups of respondents were compared to probe if openness to foreign culture and educational level have impacts on influencing consumers’ attitudes towards local and global brands.

The findings reveal a substantial influence of brand origin effect on consumers’ assessment of computers or laptops. Conversely, the importance of the country-of-origin effect seems to fade in the globalisation era. Besides, there generally exists a lower consumer ethnocentrism among the majority of respondents and there reveals no clear distinction of the aggregation consumer ethnocentrism tendency in between the two groups reflecting the differences of openness to foreign culture and educational level. However, the findings do show that women have a higher propensity of supporting local branded products but the necessity of the products moderates consumers’ mindsets while assessing both local and global brands. Furthermore, the word-of-mouth communication has considerable effect on influencing consumers’ perceptions and even can exert the power to drive the purchasing intention in the collectivism society. Global brands are favoured in a way that they satisfy consumers who care about ‘face’ via gratifying consumers’ vanity as being different from ordinary and being perceived with high class or prestige which local brands are not able to accomplish. Lastly, local brands are purchased as they are viewed with higher perceived value. In other words, the costs of acquiring local brands are lower than that of purchasing global brands. Nevertheless, global brands, especially Sony and Apply, are able to provide emotional attachment with consumers. It is the attribute that distinguishes them from other competitors and win the heart of consumers.

Key words: Consumer Perception, Local Brands, Global Brands, Country of Origin, Brand Origin, Consumer Ethnocentrism, Collectivism, Face

Item Type:	Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Depositing User:	EP, Services
Date Deposited:	20 Jan 2011 14:55
Last Modified:	20 Dec 2017 00:25
URI:	https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/24124

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