The Role of Country of Manufacture in Consumers' Attributions of Blame in an Ambiguous Product-Harm Crisis

This paper examines how country of origin, in particular country of manufacture (COM), impacts the assessment of blame by observers to a product-harm crisis when information is unclear as to a firm's culpability for the crisis. In a pilot study and experiment involving three product categories, we find evidence that a negative country of manufacture increases blame attributions to the company when consumers are not familiar with the brand involved. However, when consumers are familiar with the brand, country of manufacture information does not impact blame attributions. In addition, we find evidence that brand affects how consumers process information pertaining to firm culpability. An unknown brand causes observers to assess information associated with company blame as more important when compared to a well-known brand.