Exploring the ad-hoc effect of country's image on purchase intention: An empirical evidence from residents of the republic of Djibouti toward East Asian video game products

This thesis investigates how the country of image (COI) contributes to fostering positive purchase intentions for video games. While previous studies have explored COI's impact on purchase intention, they focused on industries like beverages, clothing, cars, and cosmetics. Notably, no research has yet explored COI's application in the video game industry, especially within the East Asian market. This study addresses this gap by examining COI's role in video game purchase intentions. Furthermore, this research also incorporated the theory of planned behavior in the model to further expand its novelty. A Questionnaire distributed via diverse social media platforms to solicit participant responses. Before hypothesis testing, item validity and reliability were ensured through SPSS version 28's factorial analysis and Cronbach alpha. This analysis comprised internal dimensionality evaluation and individual analysis for selected variables, followed by multiple linear regression. According to the results, country of image positively and significantly affects both product reputation and product affordability, but not product belief/trust. he results underscored the substantial impact of certain product characteristics—reputability, affordability, and belief trust—on TBB factors like attitude and perceived behavior control. However, product affordability, reputation, and trust showed no significant effect on subjective norm. Additionally, the study found that both attitude and subjective norm distinctly influenced Djiboutian purchase intention, in line with the effect of TBB. Notably, the outcome highlighted the significant influence of country of image on video game purchase intention.