The COO effect and the role of ethnocentrism on consumer buyingbehavior.

The paper analyses the Country of Origin (COO) effect on consumer buying behavior. A research model testing the COO’s multidimensionality – overall 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 Consumer Ethnocentrism(CE).Three hundreds and twelve questionnaires were collected and processed through Structural Equations Modelling. Results show that COO influences consumer 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. Scientific and managerial implications are derived.