ABSTRACT
This study examines the role of cultural adoption in moderating the relationship of country image to corporate image and brand image to brand attitude and purchase intention to foreign brands. During the COVID-19 pandemic, data collection was conducted online for Indonesian people interested in the Japanese restaurant Sushi Tei. The data collected from 171 respondents were analysed with partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that only corporate image and brand image were found to significantly affect brand attitude and purchase intention, while country image was insignificant. Furthermore, in the moderation test, the homologiser moderation effect was found. Culture adoption did not moderate any relationships between the conceptualised variables, but what was found was a significant relationship between culture adoption and brand attitude. The mediation test found that brand attitude partially mediated the relationship between corporate image, brand image, and purchase intention. This study also discusses its implications, both theoretically and practically, and its implications for future studies. © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Many factors influence brand trust, including manufacturer prestige, product value and quality, country of origin, media marketing, experience, and brand relationship. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of the nation of origin on brand trust, using Vietnam as a case study for India's COVID-19 vaccine. A total of 407 Vietnamese people aged 18 and up participated in the survey. The findings of the study show that the nation of origin has a significant impact on brand trust. Specifically, the perceived country image has a negative effect on brand trust, the other two components of the country of origin are perceived value and perceived quality of product have a positive impact on brand trust in India's COVID-19 vaccine. Research results show that if the perceived country image of the country of production is perceived negatively, then there will be a negative impact on brand trust. According to research findings, people in Vietnam who are 30 years old or older, have steady occupations, know about India, have used Indian products in the past, and have strong brand trust in India's COVID-19 vaccinations. India needs to boost its country's image and develop communication to increase brand trust in Vietnam.
ABSTRACT
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were the first postponed Olympic Games, held in 2021, during an outbreak of a global pandemic, with strict restrictions and regulations and without international and domestic fans. Despite the challenges and the growing resistance, over 200 countries and delegations still saw value in participating in the most global event humanity holds. After covering or researching the Olympic Movement for over a decade including in four summer Olympic Games as an accredited journalist, the author shares ten reflections on nation branding and public diplomacy and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on the following issues: (1) The Olympic Movement is entering a new era, (2) questionable legacy, (3) bypassing democracy, (4) athletes-to-people diplomacy is trending, (5) Brand America still an Olympic Superpower, (6) athletic competitions as nation branding battlefields, (7) manifestations of political conflicts, (8) rethinking cultural diplomacy, (9) global challenges, and (10) inevitable backlash. These reflections expand multidisciplinary literature on the Olympic Games, nation branding, and public diplomacy, and provide insights practitioners and decision-makers should consider when holding international sports competitions or other mega-events in a post-pandemic world.
ABSTRACT
Country image has a profound influence on international relations and economic development. In the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, countries and their people display different reactions, resulting in diverse perceived images among foreign public. Therefore, in this article, we take China as a specific and typical case and investigate its image with aspect-based sentiment analysis on a large-scale Twitter dataset. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore country image in such a fine-grained way. To perform the analysis, we first build a manually-labeled Twitter dataset with aspect-level sentiment annotations. Afterward, we conduct the aspect-based sentiment analysis with BERT to explore the image of China. We discover an overall sentiment change from non-negative to negative in the general public, and explain it with the increasing mentions of negative ideology-related aspects and decreasing mentions of non-negative fact-based aspects. Further investigations into different groups of Twitter users, including U.S. Congress members, English media, and social bots, reveal different patterns in their attitudes toward China. This article provides a deeper understanding of the changing image of China in COVID-19 pandemic. Our research also demonstrates how aspect-based sentiment analysis can be applied in social science researches to deliver valuable insights.