Quality Signals and Consumer Choice: The Roles of Origin, Awards and Place Attractiveness

ABSTRACT

Consumers rely on extrinsic quality signals to evaluate products whose quality cannot be fully assessed before purchase, yet different signals may vary in how broadly and consistently they are associated with consumer choice. Drawing on signalling theory, this study examines three quality signals: broad domestic origin, fine‐grained regional origin and award recognition. It further investigates whether the association between award recognition and consumer choice varies with consumers' evaluations of the place linked to the product. Using soy sauce as an empirical context, a discrete choice experiment was conducted with 1040 consumers in Japan, yielding 18,720 alternative‐specific observations. Mixed logit models showed a robust positive association between domestic soybean origin and choice relative to imported origin. A narrower Soma‐origin cue was also positively associated with choice but exhibited substantial preference heterogeneity. Award recognition did not function as a uniformly positive signal; its conditional association with choice was more positive at higher levels of perceived Soma City attractiveness. Because place attractiveness was measured after the choice tasks and after exposure to a tourism website, this relationship is interpreted as associational rather than causal. The findings distinguish broadly valued origin information from more heterogeneous and context‐dependent quality signals, suggesting that consumer responses to quality cues should be understood in relation to both the specificity of the signal and the evaluative context surrounding the place associated with it.