Consumer services literature offers substantial evidence that ethnocentric consumers tend to prefer domestic over foreign products. Yet no research to date has delved into the question how consumer ...ethnocentrism (CE) modulates the neural processing of products. This is the first study resorting to neuroimaging to explore to what extent CE levels affect the processing of domestic (Spain) and foreign (USA and China) products. The brain data yielded by neuroimaging reveal that highly ethnocentric consumers experience a greater degree of activation in brain regions linked to self-reference and reward when considering to purchase domestic products and a greater activation in brain regions related to risk in the case of foreign products.
Purpose
Despite the well-established impact of consumer ethnocentrism (CET) on purchase intentions, extant literature offers limited evidence on actual purchase behaviour. The purpose of this paper ...is to address the gap by investigating the factors underlying variations in CET behaviour using reported brand purchases. Product category, product cost and visibility, brand and country of origin (COO) of purchased products are investigated for their impact on the differences in the behavioural effects of CET.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses survey data collected in the USA from a sample of 468 consumers. Self-reported brand purchases are used and involve ten product categories, 432 brands, and 22 countries of origin. Logistic regressions for repeated measures are used to test the hypotheses formulated.
Findings
The results confirm that product category is an important determinant of the behavioural effects of CET. CET also has a significant impact on purchases of the most expensive product categories rather than frequently purchased convenient items. Contrary to existing empirical evidence, cultural similarity does not mitigate the negative effects of CET and product visibility does not strengthen the behavioural effect of CET.
Practical implications
The study results should enhance managers’ understanding of the determinants of ethnocentric behaviour. The results caution managers about the value of self-reported measures and indicate that product features other than COO may be more effective in mitigating the negative effects of CET.
Originality/value
This study contributes to extant literature on CET and COO by investigating, for the first time, the problem of inconsistent predictions of purchase behaviour in the context of foreign vs domestic brands. For this purpose, the study adopted a novel methodological approach to investigate actual brand purchases.
This paper seeks to understand the role of psychological ownership in shaping perceptions and preferences of domestic versus foreign products. We provide evidence that quality judgments and purchase ...behavior of domestic products depend on different levels of shared ownership. From a theoretical perspective, we show that domestic psychological ownership is an important construct that explains how preferences for domestic brands are formed. In terms of methodological contribution, the study offers a psychometric measure that will assist researchers interested in international consumer research. Finally, the study is of managerial interest in that our findings provide at least a partial explanation why many foreign brands fail to establish stronger positions in domestic markets, as well as why hybridization and glocalization strategies are successful.
•The study offers a psychometric measure of domestic psychological ownership.•Domestic psychological ownership explains how preferences for domestic brands are formed.•Domestic psychological ownership has a greater explanatory power than ethnocentrism.
Drawing from a large sample of consumer survey in five major cities of China, this empirical study examines different underlying mechanisms of cultural identity and consumer ethnocentrism constructs. ...Furthermore, it investigates their different impacts on consumer preferences and buying behavior regarding domestic vs. import brands based on a group of hypotheses derived from theoretical conceptualizations. Test results demonstrate that cultural identity enhances both preference and purchasing of domestic brands. On the other hand, consumer ethnocentrism has a negative impact on relative preference for import brands but not on actual buying of domestic or import brands. Moderating role of brand equity is also examined. Theoretical contribution and managerial impactions based on such findings are provided.
Consumers' preferences for domestic over imported products have been investigated in various isolated studies, but never in a single model incorporating several in-group and out-group consumer ...orientations at the same time. Building on social identity theory, this study develops and tests—in two countries—a conceptual model that assesses the relative influence of consumer ethnocentrism, national identity, and consumer cosmopolitanism on consumers' product judgments and willingness to buy domestic and foreign products. Furthermore, the study develops an empirically based typology of consumer segments using these sociopsychological traits and subsequently profiles them on consumptionrelevant variables. The findings reveal several undiscovered patterns regarding the interplay of consumer ethnocentrism, national identity, and consumer cosmopolitanism as drivers of consumer behavior and offer managerial guidance on their relevance as segmentation variables.
In recent years, nations have regained prominence as central symbols of political unity and mobilization, and proved capable of serving political goals across the political spectrum. Yet, the current ...revival of the national extends well beyond the realm of politics; it is anchored in the logic of global capitalism, and has become inextricably intertwined with the practices of promotion and consumption. Our article seeks to map the interface between nationalism and economic life, and bring some clarity to the so far fragmented debate on the topic, which developed under diverse headings such as ‘economic nationalism’, ‘nation branding’, ‘consumer ethnocentrism’ and ‘commercial nationalism’. We focus more closely on developing the concept of consumer nationalism, which received little sustained attention in cultural studies and in social sciences and humanities more generally. We offer a definition of consumer nationalism, situate it vis-a-vis the broader phenomena of economic nationalism and political consumerism, and propose an analytical distinction between political consumer nationalism and symbolic consumer nationalism. Drawing on existing literature we then consider a range of examples and examine how these two forms of consumer nationalism become involved in the reproduction of nationalism, taking into account both consciously nationalist discourses and practices as well as the more banal, everyday forms of nationalism.
Consumer ethnocentrism is an important concept that few scientists are researching in the context of comparing two countries. The main aim of the article is to examine the level of consumer ...ethnocentrism and its differences in selected countries - Slovakia and Czech. The measurement was performed on the basis of the CETSCALE instrument. We verified the reliability of the instrument on the basis of Cronbach's alpha, while high reliability can be stated. The results suggest that Czechs are more consumer ethnocentric than Slovaks (about 9%). The one-way ANOVA test was used to explore the impact of selected demographic factors (age and gender) on consumer ethnocentrism in both countries studied (Czech Republic and Slovakia). The results suggest that demographic factors (age and gender) are significant factors in consumer ethnocentrism in both countries, but not in the same direction and strength. The reason for these differences can be just the difference in culture from which consumer ethnocentrism is based. In the future, it would be appropriate to examine precisely cultural differences in the context of consumer ethnocentrism. The results can be used in many fields (sociology, psychology, marketing) - both theories and praxis.
Cause-related marketing (CRM) is a strategic tool that can link selling products with supporting a social cause. However, not all CRM campaigns are effective in terms of influencing consumer ...decisions. In our research, we explore the role of beneficiary origin in reactions to CRM campaigns created by brands either of national or foreign origin. We explore also the role of consumer ethnocentrism, defined as a preference for national brands and products, as a factor influencing the relations between beneficiary and brand origin. The online experiment was conducted on a sample of 549 participants. Six versions of a CRM advertisement were created (2 brands x 3 types of beneficiary). Participants were asked to evaluate the advertisement, estimate their product and firm perception, as well as their purchase intention. Consumer ethnocentrism was also measured. Results generally showed that the beneficiary type influenced advertisement evaluation, whereas brand origin influenced product and firm perception as well as purchase intention. Similar results were observed among subjects with a low consumer ethnocentrism. However, in the case of subjects with a high consumer ethnocentrism, only product perception changed under the influence of the experimental conditions and a significant interaction effect was observed. The product of a national brand was perceived better when the company helped in-group beneficiaries rather than out-group ones. However, when the product was of national brand, it was perceived as better in the case of helping an out-group than an in-group beneficiary.
The article addresses consumer ethnocentrism (CET) and consumer decision-making styles (CDMS) of young-adult consumers. We explore the level of between- and within-regional differences in CDMS in ...East Asia and Central and Eastern Europe. Drawing on Social identity theory, we explore various “constellations” of young-adult consumers with regards to their CDMS and assess to what extent can we discriminate between various consumer segments based on CET. We test hypotheses on matched samples' survey data from China, Japan, Slovenia and Croatia. Our study confirms low ethnocentric tendencies of young-adult consumers at regional, country and segment levels. We identify diverse CDMS archetypes between and within the respective countries and regions. Inter-regional differences are not bigger than country-level differences. We find weak pair-wise correlations between CET and some CDMS only in the case of Central and Eastern Europe.
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