In offering fresh insights on the country-of-origin effect literature, this article provides
evidence to suggest that cognitive country image (CI) is not necessarily consistent with
affective country image. Based on a large scale consumer survey conducted in China, the
findings reported provide empirical support for a hypothesized decomposing effect. In
particularly, the results demonstrate that cognitive and affective CI have a different impact
on the intention to purchase, with the former influencing purchase through product
image, and the latter having a direct influence, independent of product image. Such a
decomposing effect has important theoretical and managerial implications surrounding
the mechanics of country image and the impact on purchase intention which are extracted
from this study along with directions for future research