The primary purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between foreign brand name translation and product-related cues—such as physical quality, perceived origin, and brand name—on consumers’ perceived quality, price, and purchase intentions. In translations from alphabetic to character-based languages such as Mandarin, two generic methods of brand name translation are available: (1) direct translation for the meaning of the brand name and (2) phonetic translation for the pronunciation of the brand name. The results from a series of structurally related experiments designed to investigate the effects of brand name translation in a cross-cultural context indicate that for an unknown brand, a phonetic translation may be mandatory, whereas for an existing strong brand name, it may be best to retain the original name.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AaronsonDoris, and FerresSteven (1986), “Sentence Processing in Chinese-American Bilinguals,”Journal of Memory and Language, 25(April), 136–62.
2.
AllisonR.I., and UhlK.P. (1964), “Influence of Beer Brand Identification on Taste Perception,”Journal of Marketing Research, 3(August), 36–39.
3.
BelkR.W. (1988), “Third World Consumer Culture,” in Research in Marketing, Marketing and Development: Toward Broader Dimensions, Supplement 4, KumcuE., and FiratA. F., eds. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 103–27.
4.
ChamberlainT.C. (1897), “The Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses,”Journal of Geology, 5, 837–48.
5.
ChanK.K. (1990), “Localization in International Branding: A Preliminary Investigation on Chinese Names of Foreign Brands in Hong Kong,”International Journal of Advertising, 9(1), 81–91.
6.
DawarNiraj, and ParkerPhilip (1994), “Marketing Universals: Consumers’ Use of Brand Name, Price, Physical Appearance, and Retailer Reputation as Signals of Product Quality,”Journal of Marketing, 58(April), 81–95.
7.
DoddsWilliam, MonroeKent, and GrewalDhruv (1991), “Effects of Price, Brand, and Store Information on Buyers’ Evaluations,”Journal of Marketing Research, 28(August), 307–19.
8.
DoganaF. (1967), “Psychology Contributions to the Problem of Brand Names,”European Marketing Research Review, 2(1), 50–58.
9.
DonohoCasey L., and Edward NelsonO. (1989), “The Implicit Value of Well-Known Brand Names: A Pilot Study,”Marketing Theory and Practice, TerryL. Childers, eds. Chicago: American Marketing Association, 180–85.
10.
HummelT.J., and SligoR.J. (1971), “Empirical Comparisons of Univariate and Multivariate Analysis of Variance Procedures,”Psychological Bulletin, 76, 49–57.
11.
JacobyJ., and OlsonJ. (1985), Perceived Quality.Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
12.
JacobyJ., OlsonJ., and HaddockR.A. (1971), “Price, Brand Name and Product Composition Characteristics as Determinants of Perceived Quality,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 55(6), 570–79.
13.
KeppelG. (1982), Design and Analysis: A Researcher's Handbook.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
14.
MacWhinneyBrian (1998), “Models of the Emergence of Language,”Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 199–227.
15.
OlsonJ.C. (1977), Price as Informational Cue Effects in Product Evaluation.New York: North Holland.
16.
PanYigang, and SchmittBernd (1996), “Language and Brand Attitudes: Impact of Script and Sound Matching in Chinese and English,”Journal of Consumer Psychology, 5(3), 263–77.
17.
PecotichAnthony, and ShultzClifford J.II (1998), Marketing and Consumer Behavior in East and South-East Asia.Sydney, Australia: McGraw-Hill.
18.
PetersonR.A., and JolibertA.J.P. (1976), “A Cross-National Investigation of Price and Brand as Determinants of Perceived Product Quality,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 61(4), 533–36.
19.
PlattJohn R. (1964), “Strong Inference,”Science, 146(October 16), 347–53.
SchmittBernd, and PanYigang (1994), “Managing Corporate and Brand Identities in the Asia-Pacific Region,”California Management Review, 36(4), 32–48.
22.
SchmittBernd, PanYigang, and TavassoliNader T. (1994), “Language and Consumer Memory: The Impact of Linguistic Differences Between Chinese and English,”Journal of Consumer Research, 21(3), 419–31.
23.
SchmittBernd, and ShultzClifford J.II (1995), “Situational Effects on Brand Preferences,”Psychology and Marketing, 12(August), 433–46.
24.
SzybilloG.J., and JacobyJ. (1974), “Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Cues as Determinants of Perceived Product Quality,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 59(1), 74–78.
25.
TabachnickB.G., and FidellL.S. (1989), Using Multivariate Statistics, 2d ed.New York: Harper Collins Publishers.
26.
TavassoliNader (1999), “Temporal and Associative Memory in Chinese and English,”Journal of Consumer Research, 26(2), 170–81.
27.
TroutmanC.M., and ShanteauJames (1976), “Do Consumers Evaluate Products by Adding or Averaging Attribute Information?”Journal of Consumer Research, 3(2), 101–106.
28.
WinerRussell (1999), “Experimentation in the 21st Century,”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 27(3), 349–58.
