On the relevance of the region-of-origin in consumers studies

The existing literature on the consumers' attitude toward region-of-origin (RoO) provides numerous and varying evidence on the relative importance of this extrinsic attribute as compared to other product characteristics. The article aims at characterising the heterogeneity in the relative importance of RoO. We systematically review the literature on RoO and build an ad hoc indicator to measure the relative importance of RoO as compared to other attributes of agri-food products under investigation. We then explain, through a meta-analytical approach, how the relative importance of RoO varies according to factors related to publication process, methodological issues, and characteristics of articles. Findings reveal the limited influence of publication process and methodological issues on the relative importance of RoO. In contrast, we find a strong effect of characteristics of articles, with the relative importance of RoO being highly dependent on products and origins under investigation. The results also highlight that RoO is an effective differentiation instrument in the agri-food markets only if supported by geographical indication labels. Managerial implications are also provided.