Effects of subcultural differences on country and product evaluations

Most cross‐cultural studies on country of origin or product‐country image (PCI) effects have implicitly assumed that national markets are composed of homogeneous consumers. Although many investigations in this field are described as cross‐cultural, most are in fact cross‐national. The overarching hypothesis of the present research is that PCI effects may vary across subcultures within a country. The results indicate that subcultural differences exist in the evaluation of culturally affiliated countries and their products. Cognitive responses converged to show that consumers' perceived linkages significantly influence the weight given to the country of origin in product evaluations. Several implications for managers and academic researchers are discussed. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Validation of scales measuring attitudes and norms related to mammography screening in women veterans.

Validation of psychosocial measures for use in mammography screening research has been given inadequate attention in the literature. The authors report on the validation of 5 measures examining 4 attitudinal constructs (i.e., pros, cons, outcome expectations, and cancer worries) and 1 social influence construct (i.e., subjective norms) in a 22-item inventory. The study participants consisted of a national, randomly sampled population of women veterans (n = 2,910). After minor revision of scales, the authors found independent measures for 4 constructs: pros, cons, cancer worries, and subjective norms. The authors concluded that these scales have acceptable psychometric properties; support construct validity; and provide brief, reliable, and valid measures of attitudes toward and norms regarding mammography screening. These scales may be useful for intervention research.