Conceptualising the influence of corporate image on country image

The aim of this paper is to examine the influence of corporate image on shaping the image of its country of origin (hereafter country image).

The authors develop a conceptual framework and a series of propositions, grounded on previous studies on country of origin (COO), image transfer, corporate and place branding.

The framework proposes that the influence of corporate image on country image can be moderated by four individual (country familiarity, corporate familiarity, brand image fit and corporate brand category‐country brand image fit) and two corporate level variables (international visibility and market visibility).

A series of propositions is offered that aims to stimulate empirical research in this topical subject.

Despite increasing acknowledgement of the influence that the image of corporations may exert on the image of their COO, this relationship has been under‐researched. This paper draws insights from theoretical and empirical studies to shed some light on this area. A framework is presented which transcends previous corporate image formation models by looking at the other way of the relationship between corporate image and country image.