Brand Origin Recall Accuracy (BORECA): a new measure of brand origin salience
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize and test a new concept named “Brand Origin RECall Accuracy” (BORECA) that assesses consumers’ ability to recall accurately the origins of brands they are aware of. It measures consumers’ brand awareness and brand origin (BO) awareness for a given product category.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the accessibility–diagnosticity model and the limitations of the brand origin recognition accuracy concept, the authors propose and test the BORECA concept focusing on one product category (apparel) in an emerging country context, i.e. Tunisia (Mena). A sample of 374 respondents were surveyed on country-of-origin (COO)-category awareness, brand awareness, BO awareness and foreign vs local brand quality evaluation. Descriptive statistics, correlation indices, MANOVA and linear regression analysis were used in data analysis.
Findings
Results show a substantial BORECA score, i.e. highly accurate awareness of the origins of the recalled brands, affected by respondents’ age, gender and education level. The average BORECA score for local brands is higher than for foreign brands. The local BORECA score seems to positively correlate to respondents’ evaluation of local brand quality and negatively to foreign (dominant COO category) brands.
Research limitations/implications
Based on an aided recall task rather than simple recognition, BORECA provides a deeper assessment of brand awareness and BO awareness. The pressure induced by the task (knowledge test + retrieval effort) may cause anxiety bias that inhibits the recall of other brands and BOs.
Practical implications
Nationalistic and ethnocentric tendencies emerging in the findings point to some branding strategies for both local and foreign companies.
Originality/value
The paper provides a good indication of BO salience in an emerging economy. It seeks to explain the impact of the BORECA score for local brands on the perceived quality of both local and foreign brands.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the editor and the anonymous referees for the highly valuable comments they provided during the revision process.
Citation
Abdellah-Kilani, F. and Zorai, R. (2019), "Brand Origin Recall Accuracy (BORECA): a new measure of brand origin salience", International Marketing Review, Vol. 36 No. 3, pp. 464-482. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMR-03-2018-0087
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited