A cross‐national investigation of the effects of country of origin and brand name on the evaluation of a new car

Examines the cross‐national applicability of a model of the effects of country of origin and brand name on consumers’ evaluations of a product. Specifically, investigates the structures of country‐of‐origin and brand effects on the evaluation of a new automobile by German and French car owners. Uses a multi‐group structural equation modelling approach to assess the invariance of the proposed model across countries. Reports findings indicating both the factor structure and the structural model relationships are invariant, thus providing support for the hypothesis of the model’s cross‐national generalizability. Also notes that both brand name and country of origin turned out to have a significant impact on consumers’ evaluations of the automobile. Discusses the implications of the study for international manufacturing decisions and new product development.