Made in China, Germany and Indonesia consumers' perceived quality of multinational products

This study examines consumers' perceived quality of multinational products depending on the country of manufacture. Multinational products can be high- or low-involvement products, and consumers can have high or low prior knowledge about them. The country of manufacture can be the same country as the brand origin (i.e. lateral manufacturing), a country with lower development than the brand origin (i.e. downward manufacturing), or a country with higher development than the brand origin (i.e. upward manufacturing). The results of the current study show that consumers with high prior knowledge perceive lateral-manufactured multinational products as having high quality. Meanwhile, consumers with low prior knowledge perceive upward-manufactured high- and low-involvement multinational products as having high quality. By revealing the influence of prior knowledge on consumers' perceived quality of multinational products based on the involvement level and country of manufacture, this study provides meaningful implications for the strategic marketing issues around multinational products.