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Purpose — This study was undertaken to clarify how product familiarity and product involvement can moderate the importance that consumers place on COO image when they evaluate products for purchase or consumption. The authors adopted a contingency approach and empirically examined, by way of competing hypotheses, the alternative possibilities by which product familiarity and product involvement may influence the importance that consumers place on COO image when they evaluate products. Design/methodology/approach — Data were gathered from 388 consumers in Australia across four different product classes. Data analysis was conducted using hierarchical regression analysis with interactions and post hoc slope analysis. Findings — Overall, the study findings suggest that the importance that consumers place on COO image when they evaluate products is contingent on the product context. Specifically, the study findings show that consumers consider COO image to be more important for their product evaluations when they evaluate products from less familiar product categories and are less involved with the products that they are evaluating. An additional variable included in the study, product origin congruency, was found to enhance the importance that consumers place on COO image when they evaluate products. Originality/value — There are competing views in the literature as to how product familiarity and product involvement can moderate the importance that consumers place on COO image when they evaluate products. This study further clarifies the moderating role of product familiarity and product involvement. The study also examines the potential moderating role of product origin congruency in a survey for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]