The Coalescence Effect: How a Combination of Foreign and Local Appeals Enhances Customer Engagement Through Perceived Brand Globalness

Prior research in international markets has yielded two seemly opposing views regarding customer engagement with local/domestic versus foreign-made brands: a preference for foreign brands based largely on country-of-origin effects or a preference for local/domestic brands based primarily on consumer ethnocentrism. In the present research, the authors contextualize the investigation across international markets and propose that, in two national markets with different cultural characteristics, a combination of local and foreign appeals leads to more favorable brand and product evaluations, compared with either local or foreign appeals alone, due to a heightened level of perceived brand globalness, a phenomenon called “the coalescence effect.” The authors report results from seven studies conducted in China and the United States and discuss ways to design branding strategies that enhance customer engagement in an era of intensified global competition.