Explicit versus Implicit Country Stereotypes as Predictors of Product Preferences: Insights from the Stereotype Content Model

Drawing on the stereotype content model (SCM), we investigate the impact of both explicit and implicit country stereotypes on consumer preferences. In Study 1, we show that the competence dimension of the SCM (measured both explicitly and implicitly) drives purchase intention by positively influencing brand affect. In Study 2, we disentangle further the role of explicit and implicit stereotypes and show that explicit judgments of country competence are better predictors of deliberate consumer choices, whereas implicit judgments of country warmth dominate spontaneous choice. Managerially our findings indicate that sole reliance on explicit stereotypes may result in an incomplete picture of consumers’ responses to country-of-origin cues.