The purpose of this study is to examine Korean consumers’ perspective regarding Ethnocentrism, Brand Country of Origin Image, Perceived Product Quality and Purchase Intention, taken with specific reference to the world of Smartphone. This study has chosen four different countries with four different smartphone brands that based on the world market share of smartphone in 2012. This paper will outline the main theoretical-empirical contributions that have focused on a) the brand country of origin image effect on purchase intention; b) the perceived product quality intermediate effect on between the brand country of origin image and purchase intention; c) the level of Korean consumers’ ethnocentrism moderate effect on between the brand country of origin image and purchase intention. This study used the multiple regression analysis to examine the relationship between Brand Country of Origin Image and Purchase Intention for each country with each brand and the intermediate effect of Perceived Product Quality on the relationship of Brand Country of Origin Image and Purchase Intention for each country with each brand. Lastly, the study used cluster analysis and ANOVA to measure the moderate effect of consumer ethnocentrism on the relationship between brand origin and purchase intention. The results have shown that the level of brand country of origin has a significant effect on the purchase intention and also the perceived product quality significantly mediates the relationships between brand country of origin image and the purchase intention for the smartphone industry in South Korea. In addition, the level of ethnocentrism significantly moderates the relationships between the brand country of origin image and purchase intention for each country and brand in South Korea’s smartphone industry.
Keywords: Consumer ethnocentrism, Perceived product quality, Purchase intention, Brand country of origin image.
