The purpose of this paper is to understand the influence of country personality dimensions and product involvement on European consumers purchase and visit intentions, considering the Portuguese context. The increasing economic globalisation has resulted in the reducing of trade barriers between nations and the availability of more foreign products and services across borders. Therefore, the place associations of these products and services might be regarded as a potential competitive differentiator in their respective markets. Despite the proliferation of literature devoted to assessing the effects of country-of-origin, the symbolic dimension of a country’s image remains understudied. A questionnaire measuring country personality dimensions, product involvement, and consumer´s purchase and visit intention was passed on a sample of 335 European consumers. Country personality indeed matters both positively and negatively. Findings show that while assiduousness positively influences consumer’s visit intentions, wickedness has a negative influence on consumer’s purchase intentions. Findings also reveal that product involvement has a positive significant influence on consumer’s purchase and visit intentions. On developing marketing strategies, international marketers and governmental decision-makers should consider product involvement attributes and specific country personality traits to provide the country’s products with a competitive edge, as well as to promote the country as a travelling destination.

Abstract
 1. Introduction
 2. Conceptual Background
  2.1. Country Personality: State-of-the-Art
  2.2. Behavioural Intentions towards NationalProducts and Travelling
  2.3. The Effect of Product Involvement inConsumer Behaviour
 3. Research Methodology
 4. Empirical Results and Discussion
  4.1. Personality Traits Associated to Portugal
  4.2. Hypotheses Testing
 5. Conclusions and Implication
 References

• Ana Sousa(PhD Researcher – Marketing and Strategy, School of Economics and Management (EEG), University of Minho) Corresponding Author
• Helena Nobre(DEGEIT - Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, GOVCOPP, University of Aveiro)
• Minoo Farhangmehr(School of Economics and Management (EEG), University of Minho)