Figure 1
The Conceptual model is arranged from left to right, showing relationships among “City Tier”, “Product Purchase Criteria (P P C)”, and “Perceived Brand Evaluation (P B E)” for Chinese and Western brands. At the top center, a tilted box labeled “City Tier” includes “(T1: Beijing; T2: Wuhan; T3: Harbin)”. From this box, multiple arrows extend downward and diagonally. On the left, a box labeled “Product Purchase Criteria (P P C)” contains the text “Attributes: (quality, trust, reliability, image, price)”. An arrow labeled “H1 Tier towards P P C differences” points from “City Tier” to this box. From “City Tier” to the right, two arrows with an in-between label “H2 H3 Tier towards P B E differences” point toward the right. The first arrow points to a box labeled “Perceived Brand Evaluation (P B E) of Chinese Brands (on the same 5 attributes)”. The second arrow points below to “Perceived Brand Evaluation (P B E) of Western Brands (on the same 5 attributes)”. From the “Product Purchase Criteria (P P C)” box, two solid diagonal arrows point to “Perceived Brand Evaluation (P B E) of Chinese Brands (on the same 5 attributes)” and “Perceived Brand Evaluation (P B E) of Western Brands (on the same 5 attributes)”, respectively. Two dashed vertical arrows descend from “City Tier” toward the relationship between P P C and P B E boxes. The dashed arrow pointing to the relationship between P P C and P B E Chinese brands is labeled “H4 Tier moderate P P C towards P B E (Chinese)”. The dashed arrow pointing to the relationship between P P C and P B E Western brands is labeled “H5 Tier moderate P P C towards P B E (Western)”.Conceptual framework linking product purchase criteria to perceived brand evaluation across Chinese city tiers. Note(s): Solid arrows indicate direct effects tested in the hypothesis set, as well as the main effects of PPC on PBE for Chinese and Western brands. Dashed arrows denote moderation (interaction) effects in which city-tier conditions the strength of the PPC-PBE relationship, separately for Chinese and Western brands. PPC and PBE are assessed on shared attribute dimensions to ensure construct alignment at the attribute level (quality, trust, reliability, image, and price)