KOREASCHOLAR

Understanding the richness and complexity of consumers’ memory structures for a country is important for governments, tourist boards, investment promotion agencies, cultural institutes, exporter associations, Ministries of Foreign Affairs and NGOs in order to increase tourism, exports, inward investment, etc. The image of the country is a key asset that, beyond its symbolic value to the pride and confidence of a nation, has an impact on the welfare and the economic development. Understanding and specifying which levers have a disproportionate effect on generic county evaluations and country image perception is invaluable to both practitioners and academics. Associative network analysis can be helpful to identify the key levers that shape a country’s image. While a number of studies conceptualise brand image from an associative network perspective, based on cognitive psychology, only a few researchers (Henderson, Iacobucci, & Calder 1998; Teichert, & Schöntag 2010) combine this psychological approach with a network analysis perspective applying it at the product brand level. The use of such a combined approach offers certain advantages and more informed insights of image concepts in comparison to a mono-method perspective. This research uses the combined methodology to examine country image associations, and offer new insights on the construct of country image, and on the future development of a more customised approach to the country image measures.

• Carmen Lopez(Plymouth University)
• George Balabanis(City University)