THE EFFECT ON PURCHASE INTENTION THROUGH THE DIMENSIONS OF BRAND IMAGE AND BRAND OF ORIGIN

Kuang-Wen Wu, Department of International Trade, Feng Chia University, No. 100, Wenhwa Rd., Seatwen, Taichung 40724, Taiwan ROC kwwu@fcu.edu.tw Kun-Chang Wu Department of International Trade, Feng Chia University, No. 100, Wenhwa Rd., Seatwen, Taichung 40724, Taiwan ROC kujonwu@yahoo.com.tw ABSTRACT This research, which investigated the dimensions of brand image and brand of origin, is aimed at finding out the relationships between these two elements within the womens footwear industry in Taiwan. Specifically, it aimed to examine the influence of the level of brand image on consumers purchase intentions in this study. The three dimensions of brand image, as defined in this study, focused on three types of benefits provided by brand image; functional benefits, symbolic benefits, and experiential benefits. The research uses the dimensions innovativeness, design, prestige, and workmanship to evaluate the effect of brand of origin. For data collection, this research utilized convenience sampling of females in Taiwan. The questionnaires in this research were distributed around department stores and female footwear retail stores in southern, central, and northern areas of Taiwan. A total of 710 valid responses used in the data analysis procedures. This research uses descriptive statistical analysis to analyze the characters of the samples, and adopts factor analysis to simplify complex and diverse relationships among the variables. The efficiency of all questionnaires will be evaluated through reliability and validity analysis. This research uses structural equation modeling to test and examine the relationships among observed and latent variables with the purpose of highlighting and testing dimensions which can influence the variables significantly. Finally, this research purposed to evaluate and determine best practices for influencing consumer purchase intention within the womens footwear industry in Taiwan. Key words: Brand Image, Brand of Origin, Purchase Intention INTRODUCTION To satisfy the need of consumers were always focused on the price and quality of products or services before, but branding is becoming more and more important for the consumers. The progress of production technology and the difference among each product become fewer. Due to these reasons, the method of profiting for enterprises focuses on how to increase consumer purchase intention and repurchase intention of their products today. Consequently, the purchase intention in female footwear industry was one of the main points of the study. Recently, most of the Taiwanese industries are still original equipment manufacturer. In this situation there are two methods to increase profit and enhance competitive advantage: the first is to set up the ability to achieve global-logistic and the second is to
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build the development of brand extension. According to the second way, once the brand was accepted by consumers, the value which created by the brand will be higher than the products itself. At present, the dumping on footwear from China causes the local footwear industry declined. There are two methods for solving the predicament: (1) Differentiation (2) Brand Development. It is necessary to develop and operate brands in the Taiwan footwear industry; therefore this research will focus on the theories of brand (e.g. Brand Image, Country of Origin of Brand). According to the halo effect which was announced by Han (1989), explaining that country of origin of brand may influence brand image and brand equity, Aaker and Kellers (1990) research discovered that a brand with positive image improves consumer loyalty and trust and strengthens consumers purchase intention. Brand image will influence the consumer purchase intention positively in this research. Therefore, this study discussed the effect on consumer purchase intention through the path which was from brand of origin to brand image. The research objectives in this study: (1) To find out the relationships between each dimension of brand image and each dimension of brand of origin in the female footwear industry. (2) To identify how the brand of origin affect brand image in the female footwear industry. (3) Whether the level of brand image can influence the consumers purchase intention in the female footwear industry. LITERATURE REVIEW Brand of Origin It is often difficult for buyers to discern the true intrinsic quality (e.g. flavor, color, fit) of products, consumers usually use extrinsic cues (e.g. price, brand, country of design, and country of manufacture) as the basis for their evaluations of product quality. Lantz and Loeb (1996) defined country image as the consumers perceived overall evaluation of a particular country. Han (1989) announced the halo effect which interpreted that a buyers generally favorable perceptions about a particular country which causes favorable judgments about that countrys products and vice versa. Due to globalization, there is a massive amount of hybrid products available for consumers to choose from, therefore, Phau and Prendergast2000announced the concept of country of origin of brand (COB). This concept was explained that when consumers buy a name brand product such NIKE or TOTOTA, they will perceive the American style shoes and Japanese high technology, even thought the product was produced or assembled in other country. There were a lot of studies on the country of origin; the consumers did have different judgments against its country of origin (Samiee 1994; Peterson & Jolibert, 1995; Verlegh & Steenkamp, 1999; Orbaiz & Papadopoulos, 2003; Tsai, Lee & Wu, 2004). Peterson and Jolibert (1995) had done a meta-analysis on the effect of the country of origin, which analyzed those for the past three decades, this research found that country of origin have only somewhat generalization, and verbal product descriptions produce larger effect of country of origin than the actual product presence, and the larger samples generate larger effect of country of origin than smaller samples and single cue produced larger effect of country of origin than multiple cues. There were eight studies that measured country image construct using different scaled items, but only one research study reported the item means (Cattin et al. 1982) and only one research reported the correlation (White 1979) .Therefore, Roth and Romeo(1992) differentiated four dimensions of brand of origin: innovativeness, design, prestige, and workmanship. They proposed that each dimension of brand of origin meted the criteria: (1) were consistently found in previous; (2) related to perception of a countrys
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production and marketing strengths and weaknesses; (3) either intuitively and/or based on previous researches, are applicable to a broad range of product categories. This leads to Hypothesis H1: H1: Each dimension of brand of origin has a positive relationship with brand of origin in the female footwear industry. H1a: The innovativeness dimension has a positive relationship with brand of origin in the female footwear industry. H : The design dimension has a positive relationship with brand of origin
1b

in the female footwear industry. H1c: The prestige dimension has a positive relationship with brand of origin in the female footwear industry. H1d: The workmanship dimension has a positive relationship with brand of origin in the female footwear industry. Brand Image Kotler (2000) defined that A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes products and services from competitive offerings. Like the Aakers definition, the brand is a specific name or mark, and can be used for distinguishing with competitor's products and servers. Keller (1993) proposed that a brand as an association or recognition consumers make based on their memory toward a product. According to Park, Jaworski and, MacInnis (1986) research, a brand image should be based on brand concept-image, which can be structured in the following three benefits: (1) Functional: actual benefits from using a product or service, focusing on satisfying consumers basic needs. (2) Symbolic: added value of a product or services, stressing the ability to fulfill consumers inner needs and self-image. (3) Experiential: subjective experience from using the product or service. The brand image is important in marketing because the brand image is regarded as the clue of a kind of information. The consumers depend on the brand image to deduct quality of product, subsequently stimulating consumer's purchasing behavior. Kamins and Marks (1991) announced that consumers regarding is familiarity and the product with good brand image, and they will have higher brand attitudes and purchase intention. The country of origin image (country image) has direct influence toward product beliefs (Erickson et al., 1984; Chao, 1998; Verlegh & Steenkamp, 1999; Teas & Agarwal, 2000; Orbaiz & Papadopoulos, 2003). A positive product belief on a given origin will have a positive effect on brand image. Therefore, brand of origin would influence the brand image. With reference to the foregoing the study raised nine hypotheses as below: H2:Each dimension of brand image has a positive relationship with brand image in the female footwear industry. H : The functional dimension has a positive relationship with brand image
2a

in the female footwear industry. H2b: The symbolic dimension has a positive relationship with brand image in the female footwear industry.
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H2c: The experiential dimension has a positive relationship with brand image in the female footwear industry. H3: Each dimension of brand of origin has a direct positive effect on each dimension of brand image in the female footwear industry. H3a-1: The innovativeness dimension of brand of origin has a direct positive effect on the functional dimension of brand image in the female footwear industry. H3a-2: The design dimension of brand of origin has a direct positive effect on the functional dimension of brand image in the female footwear industry. H3a-3: The prestige dimension of brand of origin has a direct positive effect on the functional dimension of brand image in the female footwear industry. H3a-4: The workmanship dimension of brand of origin has a direct positive effect on the functional dimension of brand image in the female footwear industry. H3b-1: The innovativeness dimension of brand of origin has a direct positive effect on the symbolic dimension of brand image in the female footwear industry. H3b-2: The design dimension of brand of origin has a direct positive effect on the symbolic dimension of brand image in the female footwear industry. H3b-3: The prestige dimension of brand of origin has a direct positive effect on the symbolic dimension of brand image in the female footwear industry. H3b-4: The workmanship dimension of brand of origin has a direct positive effect on the symbolic dimension of brand image in the female footwear industry. H3c-1: The innovativeness dimension of brand of origin has a direct positive effect on the experiential dimension of brand image in the female footwear industry. H3c-2: The design dimension of brand of origin has a direct positive effect on the experiential dimension of brand image in the female footwear industry. H3c-3: The prestige dimension of brand of origin has a direct positive effect on the experiential dimension of brand image in the female footwear industry. H3c-4: The workmanship dimension of brand of origin has a direct positive effect on the experiential dimension of brand image in the female footwear industry. Purchase Intention Purchase intention means probably attempting to buy a product (Dodds, Monroe, & Grewal, 1991). According to Kotler (2000), consumer behavior occurs when consumers are stimulated by external factors and come to a purchase decision based on their personal characteristics and decision making process. These factors included choosing a product, brand, a retailer, timing, and quantity. This means consumers purchasing behavior is affected by their choice of product and brand.
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Consumers purchase intentions always arise after consumer perceived value and perceived benefit. Hence, the research chose purchasing intention to be the indicator of consumers making a buying decision identify whether or not the brand image will significantly influence consumers purchasing intention. People comparatively purchase those which are familiar with oneself and the products with good brand image because the good brand image can make you feel at ease and reliable. Comparatively speaking, it will have higher satisfaction to the products too. Kamins and Marks (1991) advocated that consumers regarding is familiarity and the product with good brand image, will have higher brand attitudes and purchase intention. Laroche et al. (1996) thought the consumers familiar degree to the products is the higher, the better the confidence and attitude to the products are, and the purchase intention will be higher. Therefore, the following research hypotheses are proposed: H4: Each dimension of brand image has a direct positive effect on the level of purchase intention in the female industry. H4a: The functional dimension of brand image has a direct positive effect on the level of purchase intention in the female footwear industry. H4b: The symbolic dimension of brand image has a direct positive effect on the level of purchase intention in the female footwear industry. H4a: The experiential dimension of brand image has a direct positive effect on the level of purchase intention in the female footwear industry. Framework According to the literature review, the framework in the study was shown in Figure 1:

Brand of Origin (H1) Innovativeness Design Prestige Workmanship

Brand Image (H2) H3 Functional Symbolic Experiential H4 Purchase Intention

Figure 1 The Research Framework METHODOLOGY Sampling Plan There were about 750 questionnaires distributed in this study. The questionnaires were distribute to the female footwear shopper around the department stores and female footwear retail stores in south, central, and north areas of Taiwan. The study aimed at the research population of the ages between 18 and 40 years old. However, people who were less than 18 years old have inadequate power with consumption. The targeted brands used to do the survey were suitable for young consumers; therefore, people who were older than 40 years old did not applied to do the survey in this study. Therefore, they were excluded from the research population. The sampling method in this study was convenience sampling, and the sample of this study was selected from female footwear shoppers who received the questionnaire invitations to do a survey. Three countries were chosen in the study for measure each item, and these countries were Taiwan, Japan, and Europe. The female footwear with Taiwanese brand such as AS, SENSE 1991, KOKKO, non-no, GREEN PINE, Dianan, Look, Miss Sofi, Annalee was
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used to hint the respondents to do the survey. The Japanese brands such as 2.Maa, iki2, Minx, ZUCCA, bellwink, and the European brands like TAS, Cumar, Fiorucci, Desire, ClayDerman, and Ophlie were chosen in the survey of this study. Instrumentation Some constructs cannot be observed directly in the social science field, and so the researcher has to use scales to measure the theoretical constructs. The theoretical phenomena that scales intend to measure are often called latent variables, while the measured behavior scores are termed observed or manifest variables (Byrne, 2001). The dimensions of brand of origin and brand image were sub-constructs in this study. Therefore, this study required measures of seven latent variables: innovativeness, design, prestige, workmanship, functional, symbolic, and experiential. All instruments were modified from existing scale. The items used to measure each dimension of brand of origin (Roth and Romeos, 1992) were modified by the author in this study: use of new technology, use of new engineering advances, appearance, style, color, variety, exclusivity, status, durability, craftsmanship, and manufacturing quality. The items used to measure each dimension of brand image were proposed by lots of empirical researches and modified by the author. The items of purchase intention were adopted Dodds et al.(1991) perspectives such as design well, safety, social approval, personal expression, sensory pleasure, and cognitive stimulation. Data Analysis Method It analyzed the data with SPSS 10.0 and AMOS statistic package software, and the statistic analysis method was SEM (Structural Equation Modeling), reliability and validity analysis, and Descriptive Statistic Analysis. The descriptive statistic analysis was used to realize the distribution of the sample characteristics. It may be possible that the final data-producing sample closely represents the target population, thereby strengthening the external validity of study findings. Using SEM to understand social and behavioral circumstances whether or not (1) a good initial model is conceptualized based on a sound underlying substantive theory; (2) appropriate data are collected to estimate the unknown population parameters; (3) the fit of those data to the priori hypothesized model is assessed; and (4) whether theoretically justified, the initial model is modified appropriately should evidence of lack-of-fit and model misspecification arise (Muller, 1996). For reliability, this study used Cronbachs to measure the coefficient of internal consistency of variables in the questionnaire. Single factor confirmatory factor analysis, one-factor vs. two factor tests for convergent validity, and discriminative validity were ensured respectively. RESULT Sample Characteristic Among the 757 respondents who participated in the questionnaire survey, 47 respondents did not finish the survey. This resulted in a total of 710 valid responses used in the data analysis procedures. The age range of the respondents was from 18 to 75. The average of the respondents age was 21.88. The largest age group was between 18 and 24 years old (64.2%) and the smallest age group was 40 years old or more (.8%). The majority of respondents were single (85.5%), while the second largest group of marital states married (14.1%). The largest educational group was college (74.8%). The second largest educational group was high school (9.6%), whereas the third largest educational group, which was slightly fewer than the second largest group, was professional (9.3%). The largest occupation group of the respondents was students. The largest group of personal income per month was NT$20,000 or less (61.8%), and
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second largest group of personal income per month was between NT$20,001 and NT$25,000 (14.6%). The reason caused this situation was most of the respondents were students. Table 1 Reliability of Scales and Item-Construct Factor Loadings Construct/Factor/Item Factor loading Brand of Origin Innovativeness (Cronbachs alpha = .92) .63 Use of new technology .98 Use of new engineering advances .85 Design (Cronbachs alpha = .88) .77 Appearance .88 Style .90 Color .76 Variety .63 Prestige (Cronbachs alpha = .85) .89 Exclusivity .79 Status .82 Workmanship (Cronbachs alpha = .88) .77 Durability .81 Craftsmanship .84 Manufacturing quality .89 Brand Image Functional (Cronbachs alpha = .81) .94 Design well .72 Safety .77 Symbolic (Cronbachs alpha = .80) .93 Social approval .65 Personal expression .73 Experiential (Cronbachs alpha = .89) .82 Sensory pleasure .91 Cognitive stimulation .88 Purchase Intention Probability of buy the product of this brand .86 Accord with the economic benefits .79 Acceptability for the price of product .79 Willing to buy the product of this brand .85 R2 .40 .97 .74 .49 .78 .81 .58 .66 .77 .65 .65 .69 .66 .70 .80 .88 .51 .60 .86 .42 .53 .67 .82 .78 .72 .62 .62 .73

Reliability and Validity of Scales The reliability of scales used in this study was calculated by Cronbach's coefficient alpha. The coefficient alpha values exceeded the minimum standard of .7 (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994), providing good estimates of internal consistency reliability. As shown in Table 1, coefficient alpha values ranged from .85 to .92 for the four dimensions of brand of origin, from .80 to .89 for the three dimensions of brand image, and .89 for purchase intention. All four dimensions of brand of origin, brand image, and purchase intention obtained an acceptable level of a coefficient alpha above .70, indicating that
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the scales used in this study were reliable. The estimates of standardized factor loadings were used to determine the convergent validity of scales. The minimum factor loading in the confirmatory factor analysis for items in this study was .63 (see Table 1). As each factor loading on each construct was more than .50, the convergent validity for each construct in this study was established (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1998). Table 2 Goodness-of-Fit Results of Causal Structure Model of Purchase Intention Desired range of values for a Goodness-of-fitstatistics Absolute fit measures Chi-square test Degree of freedom Chi-square / degree of freedom ratio Goodness of fit index Incremental fit measures Adjusted good-of-fit index Turker-Lewis index Normed fit index Comparative fit index Parsimonious fit measures Parsimonious normed fit index Parsimonious goodness-of-fit index Path Analysis with Latent Variables The model fit results of second-order CFA model of brand of origin indicated that the model sufficiently fit the sample, and most of the goodness-of fit indices were satisfied with their relative recommended thresholds ( = 92.48; CFI=.99; RMSEA=.04; GFI=.98). The results implied that it has a good model fit. Therefore, the goodness-offit results supported H1 (including H1a to H1d) and indicated that each dimension of brand of origin had a positive relationship with brand of origin. The model fit results of second-order CFA of brand image indicated that the model sufficiently the sample, and all of the goodness-of-fit indices, expect RMSE and PGFI, were not satisfied with their relative recommended thresholds(GFI=.99; AGFI=.96; TLI=.98; NFI=.99; CFI=.99). Although the values of PNFI and PGFI did not meet the thresholds, their values were very close to the threshold. The results of goodness-of-fit results completely supported
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2

Value

good fit
2

1424.43 137 .11 ..85

p>.05 0 2 to 5 <.08 >.90

df / df
2

10.40

Root mean square error of approximation RMSEA GFI

AGFI TLI NFI CFI

.74

>.90 .82 .84 .86 >.90 >.90 >.95

PNFI PGFI

.68 .58

>.50 >.50

H2 (including H2a toH2c) and indicated that each dimension of brand image had a positive relationship with brand image. The casual structure model of purchase intention was designed to test the hypothesis that purchase intention was influenced by the dimensions of brand of image through the dimensions of brand image. The measurement error variance could represent a high degree than others (Byren, 2001). After deleting those items that have higher degree of overlap the model fit results of causal structure model of purchase intention indicated that the model poor fit the sample (2=1424.43; GFI=.85; RMSEA=.11; AGFI=.74; PNFI=.68; PGFI=.58). Table 2 presents goodness-of-fit results of the causal structure model. Although some fit indexes did not meet their thresholds, those value of those indexes were very close to the thresholds and thus they represented an acceptable model fit. Table 3 Regression Weights of the Hypothesized Causal Structure Model
Standardized S.E. t-value coefficient H3: Each dimension of brand of origin has a direct positive effect on each dimension of brand image in the female footwear industry. Functional<---Innovativeness -.055 0.023 -1.528 Functional<---Design Functional<---Prestige Functional<---Workmanship Symbolic<---Innovativeness Symbolic<---Design Symbolic<---Prestige Symbolic<---Workmanship Experiential<---Innovativeness Experiential<---Design Experiential<---Prestige Experiential<---Workmanship .318 .328 .472 -.091 .116 .593 .350 -.119 .200 .420 .255 0.027 0.051 0.034 0.029 0.031 0.078 0.037 0.034 0.035 0.074 0.039 7.703** 6.759** 9.974** -2.030* 2.593** 6.536** 5.591** -2.607** 3.960** 6.032** 4.893** Structural Path Result H3 Partial Supported H3a-1 Not Supported H3a-2 Supported H3a-3 Supported H3a-4 Supported H3b-1 Supported H3b-2 Supported H3b-3 Supported H3b-4 Supported H3c-1 Supported H3c-2 Supported H3c-3 Supported H3c-4 Supported H4 Supported H4a Supported H4b Not Supported H4c Supported

H4: Each dimension of brand image has a direct positive effect on the level of purchase intention in the female industry. Purchase Intention .417 0.128 3.863** <---Functional Purchase Intention .103 0.083 1.209 <---Symbolic Purchase Intention .288 0.047 5.348** <---Experiential

** p .01 ; * p .05 As shown in Table 3, the regression weight of innovativeness to functional (t = -1.097; p > .05), innovativeness to symbolic (t = -1.609; p > .05), design to symbolic (t = -1.851; p > .05), and symbolic to purchase intention (t = -1.209; p > .05) were not significant. This indicated that innovativeness dimension had no significant effects on both functional and symbolic dimensions, and there was no significant relationship between design dimension and symbolic dimension. There was also no significant relationship between symbolic dimension and purchase intention. However, the unstandardized data were difficult to make comparisons with each effect. Using standardized data allows this study to compare the relative effect of each exogenous latent variable on the endogenous latent variable. The analyses of direct, indirect, and total effects, as presented in Table 4, may help to understand how exogenous variables influenced endogenous variables. Table 4 Standardized Direct Effects, Indirect Effects, and Total Effects of the Hypothesized Model Inn Direct effects Func Sym Exp Purchase Intention .417
**

Work .472
** ** **

Pres .328 .593

** ** **

Des .318 .116 .200

**

Func

Sym

Exp

-.055 -.091 -.119

* **

.350 .255

** **

.420

.103

.288

Indirect effects PurchaseIntention Total effects Func Sym Exp PurchaseIntention ** p .01; * p .05 Note. Inn = Innovativeness; Work = Workmanship; Pres = Prestige; Func = Function;
10
* ** ** ** ** **

-.067

**

.306

**

.319

**

.202

**

-.055 -.091 -.119

* **

.472

.328 .593

.318 .116

.350 .255 .306

** **

**

.420 .319

.200 .202

-.067

**

**

**

**

.417

**

.103

.288

**

Sym = Symbolic; Exp = Experiential In Table 4, three of thirteen direct effects were not significant: innovativeness to functional (-.055), innovativeness to symbolic (-.091), and symbolic to purchase intention (.103). All the four indirect effects were significant: innovativeness to purchase intention (-.067), workmanship to purchase intention (.306), prestige to purchase intention (.319), and design to purchase intention (.202). The results indicated that the innovativeness dimension of brand of origin has a negatively indirect effect on purchase intention through the experiential dimension of brand image. The design dimension of brand has a positively indirect effect on purchase intention through the functional dimension and experiential dimension of brand image. The prestige dimension and workmanship dimension has positively indirect effects on purchase intention through each dimension of brand image. DISCUSSION The data analysis indicated that brand of origin may influence purchase intention through brand image. These results supported the empirical finding of Aaker and Keller, and Kamins and Marks (1990, 1991) that brand image indeed positively affect purchase intention. However, the original hypothesis stated that each dimension of brand of original has positive relationships with each dimension of brand. It is the two functional dimension and experiential dimension rather than symbolic dimension that affect purchase intention. The study aimed at female footwear, the brand name in this study were not luxurious brand such as LV, GUCCI and so on, therefore, the respondents did not agree that the items used to measure symbolic dimension: social approval and personal expression, so that symbolic dimension of brand image wouldnt affect purchase intention in this study. The innovativeness dimension of brand of origin has negative effect on symbolic dimension and experiential. The consumers may have existed stereotype on the brands in this study; therefore, distortions like most people may assume that the relationship between innovativeness dimension and symbolic dimension are positive. Nonetheless, this research has shown that their relationship was negative. Similarly, the relationship between innovativeness dimension and experiential dimension were negative in this study. Those unpredicted results may due to several reasons like brands we use in the existed market were mostly normal goods (mostly taken for comparatively lower price, and that means less innovation). The outcome of innovativeness dimension to symbolic dimension, and innovativeness dimension to experiential dimension became unpredictable. According to the prior discussion, the hypothesized model was modified to the model presented in Figure 2. The modified casual model removed the arrows representing the relationship between each dimension of brand of origin and each dimension of brand image, and purchase intention. Brand of Origin Brand Image Purchase Intention

Innovativeness Functional
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Design Purchase Intention Prestige Experiential Workmanship

Figure 2 Modified Causal Model Limitations and Future Research The study was limited to the area of Taiwan. It only represented the consumers in Taiwan instead of all of the consumers in the world, therefore the objective for application of the marketing implications derived from the empirical test of six constructs on a model of purchase intention towards brands from various brand of origin. The study could only be demonstrated in Tainan City, a rather restricted small area. It was not available for the application of marketing implication derived from the study in the whole consumers in Taiwan because most of the respondents in this study were college students or young consumers. The average of the respondents age was 21.88, it indicated that this study can only apply to the young consumers who were about 18 to 24 years old. The targeted brands of each country were medium price, and those brands did not involve high and low price brand, therefore the results in this study can only explain about the female footwear has medium price. The research results do not really apply to other age groups since most of the respondents in the study were students. If more samples with various representations could be selected, the results could be helpful to businesses to understand the value of their brands and the differences compared to others. In any future study, other significant variables, such as involvement and price effect, may be added into the hypothesized causal structural model. Future studies may use a different sampling method to collect data; for example, randomly selecting respondents from a list of customers of a specific department store. Practical Implications Brand of origin could improve brand image and then affect purchase intention through the dimensions: innovativeness, design, prestige, and workmanship. Although innovativeness dimension may have indirect effect on purchase intention negatively, other three dimensions of brand of origin have indirect effect on purchase intention positively. The most important strategy for manufactures or sellers is to increase purchase intention of female footwear by improving workmanship and prestige such as improve the quality /use better material or letting consumers feel that their female footwear is exclusive. Manufactures or marketers could formulate a competitive strategy based on the modified model to keep current customers and to attract new
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