Consumer ethnocentrism when foreign products are better

In recent years, there has been a great deal of research exploring the concept of consumer ethnocentrism, although little has been done in Eastern Bloc countries. In these countries, foreign brands are often clearly superior to domestic alternatives. This study applied the CETSCALE in a survey of 218 Polish consumers with respect to attitudes and beliefs for one domestic and two foreign gas station brands. The findings suggest that, in a situation where foreign brands are superior to domestic ones, consumer ethnocentrism is displayed in more positive perceptions of the domestic brand, with little or no effect on perceptions of foreign brands. Moreover, the effect of consumer ethnocentrism on evaluations of different types of product qualities (search vs. experience) is explored. The results support the prediction that consumer ethnocentrism has greater impact on evaluations of experience qualities than on search qualities. Managerial implications and future research directions are suggested. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Language and advertising effectiveness: code-switching in the Korean marketplace

Using two languages within an advertisement is increasing across many markets, throughout the world. By investigating code-switching effects between the Korean and English languages, this study is the first to directly test the Markedness Model perspective in the Korean marketplace. Furthermore, this study introduces a new type of code-switching (transliterated code-switching) between two alphabetic languages and assesses the impact of code-switching on advertising effectiveness across the different types. The results of Study 1 indicate that Korean–English (KE) code-switching and transliterated Korean–English (TL-KE) code-switching were significantly higher in attitude toward the slogan and product evaluation than English–Korean (EK) code-switching. However, there was no significant difference in the dependent variables between TL-KE and KE slogans. Study 2 tested the role of the perceived difficulty of the English words as a moderating variable. It was found that the KE slogan was more effective than the TL-KE slogan when difficult English words were embedded in the slogans, whereas no difference was found between the two slogans when the English words were perceived as easy. Implications for advertisers are presented and future research areas are discussed.     

Consumer reactions to corporate tax strategies: The role of political ideology

This study contributes to research on how stakeholders react to corporate tax strategies (CTSs). In two experiments we show that consumers are more likely to react negatively to ‘aggressive’ rather than to reward ‘conservative’ CTSs. The impact of CTSs on consumer reactions is mediated by the perceived ethicality of the firm and moderated by individuals' political identification. Right-leaning consumers are less likely than left-leaning consumers to punish companies engaging in tax avoidance. This moderation depends on the personal connection customers have with a particular brand: both left-leaning and right-leaning consumers punish firms they feel close to when such firms engage in aggressive CTSs. The study extends our understanding of the benefits and risks associated with different CTSs. It contributes to debates on the morality of CTSs, showing that political ideology shapes individuals' perceived ethicality of corporations engaged in aggressive tax avoidance.     

Ethnocentric tendencies of Indian consumers: impact on preference for domestic versus foreign products

India is witnessing a plethora of foreign and domestic products competing against each other in its retail market. In order to understand how ethnocentrism among Indian consumers leads to attitudes toward foreign/domestic products, this study aims to understand the antecedents (socio-psychological and demographic) of consumer ethnocentric tendencies (CET) among Indian consumers, the impact of ethnocentrism on attitude toward domestic versus foreign product and service, and the impact of a moderator (perceived economic threat) on the relationship between ethnocentrism and attitudes. Using a sample of 800 Indian consumers, the relationships among variables were analyzed by means of structural equation modeling (SEM) using one product (soap) and one service (mobile phone service) category. The findings suggest that Indian consumers who are ethnocentric prefer domestic product/service to foreign product/service. Ethnocentrism of Indian consumers is influenced by education, income, cultural openness, and collectivism. The relationship between ethnocentrism and attitudes was moderated by perceived economic threat. Implications are provided for both Indian and foreign marketers to successfully promote their products to Indian consumers.     

Consumer vulnerability and exclusion: A study of carers in the tourism marketplace

Abstract

Carers – a growing, multidimensional, context-specific, yet transient community (three in five of the population during a lifetime) – have been largely neglected in the marketing literature. Focusing upon the impediments to tourism participation this consumer group faces, the paper explores issues of carer engagement, consumer vulnerability, and societal exclusion from the perspective of two carer groups: senior carers and cancer carers. Conclusions reached demonstrate how challenging many carers find tourism-marketplace engagement and confirm carers can indeed be considered as vulnerable consumers. They introduce us to a range of circumstances that prompt exclusion and call upon policy makers to recognise the existence of multiple categories of vulnerability in accommodating the needs of this consumer. A future research agenda is outlined. This argues for the need to review the wider implications of the findings beyond the geographical constraints of this study, and to explore also their application to other vulnerable consumers.     

Consumer reactions to round numbers in brand names

This research shows that round numbers (e.g., 10, 50, 100) are strongly associated with completeness perceptions and consumers view them as thresholds for reaching certain completeness levels. In nine empirical studies, we demonstrate that round numbers in brand names, i.e., Round Alphanumeric Brand names (RABs) are overrepresented due to their strong association with product completeness. We find that RABs lead to favorable product evaluations and increased preferences. We examine alternative explanations based on other number properties including magnitude, divisibility, popularity, and familiarity and show that the effects of RABs on consumer responses are only mediated by the perception of product completeness.     

Consumer reactions to olfactory congruence with brand image

Store managers tend to select odors based upon their pleasing nature without taking into account the notion of congruence between the odor and the brand image. Studies have explored the effects of odors, but little attention has been paid to olfactory congruence, and even less to olfactory congruence with the brand image. This study investigates the impact of olfactory congruence with the brand image upon consumers. The results show the positive effect of olfactory congruence upon spending, attitude, pleasure, arousal, and perception of the store atmosphere. In the strong olfactory congruence condition being tested, these reactions are more positive than in the weak congruence and control conditions.     

美国消费者满意指数:原理、方法与启示

本文介绍了美国消费者满意指数的编制背景、依据的模型和具体的编制方法,重点分析了消费者满意指数在经济与经营绩效衡量方面的运用。文章认为,消费者满意指数可以从企业、行业和国家三个层次反映经济活动的绩效,不仅是传统的绩效衡量指标的有益补充,而且直接与企业未来盈利性相联系,具有传统指标不具有的独特价值;消费者满意指数有两个显著特点,一是测量消费者对某种产品的整体满意感,二是承认消费者满意水平不能直接衡量,应通过建立模型进行估计。文章还指出了消费者满意指数的局限性如抽象掉了不同行业和产品的差异性,也没有建立产品和服务的性能与消费者满意之间的联系等。     

Consumer satisfaction of retirees: products and services

This study was designed to assess the nature and extent of consumer satisfaction of retirees at two stages of retirement: Stage I, age 60–69; Stage age 70 and above. This cross-sectional mail survey study contained 196 retiree households selected at random, representing retirees who had been retired for at least 1 year and were 60 years of age or older. Results indicate that retirees are in fact a heterogeneous group of consumers who are generally self-reliant, with varying consumer problems and varying reasons for those problems. Results of this study, collectively, lend support to the notion that age alone is not an appropriate way of studying consumer concerns of retirees. Additionally, retirees' stage of retirement has no significant relationship to the person responsible for the weekly household shopping. Finally, reasons for consumer dissatisfaction are not related to the weekly household shopper.     

Consumer issues in the evolving environment: characterizations of the U.K. marketplace

It is now 10 years since Greyser and Diamond¹ published their study which examined how U.S. consumers viewed the marketplace. This study, to some extent, is a reprise. It aims to provide an insight into how the U.K.'s marketplace is characterized by household consumers, private and public sector organizations. The result suggests that fundamental changes have occurred in the perception of the marketplace, with less visible consumer activism and less overt support for antibusiness sentiments.     

美国对四大进口产品的规定

食品《联邦食品、药品和化妆品法》是美国关于食品和药品的基本法。经过无数次修改后,该法已成为世界上同类法中最全面的一部法律。《完好包装和标记法》规定包装上需要的内容的放置位置问题。"1990年的营养标记和教育法"对食品标记作了很大的改变,主要是关于营养成分的标记,营养成分含量和对健康的说明。你要向美国出口食品,你仍需购买"CFR 标题21"和其他一些关于食品加工、采样、分析、包装、安全装运等其他各类合格文件。《联邦食品、药品和化妆品法》禁止在美国销售或进口伪劣或牌号错误的食品、药品和化妆品。关于伪劣或牌号错误的详细定义在该法中已有说明,并且许多法庭对此均有解释。该法还禁止销售需经 FDA 批准而未获得批准的物品,以及未获得相应报告的物品和拒绝对规定设施进行检查的厂家生产的产品。     

The Korean Air nut rage scandal: Domestic versus international responses to a viral incident

This article investigates responses of the international and domestic (South Korean) publics to one of the most hotly debated corporate scandals in recent years: Korean Air’s so-called nut rage incident. By analyzing both international and domestic media coverage of the occurrence, we reveal contrasting interpretations between the two. Whereas the South Korean public tends to generate intense debates addressing a lack of ethics in Korean Air’s public communication following the incident, international public criticism is dominated by questions regarding South Korea’s chronic chaebol system and its negative image in relation to South Korea’s unique institutional context. Korean Air’s incongruent notice of the employee as a key stakeholder is also discussed in the international media. Our research findings indicate how, rather than focusing on legal responsibility, the normative attitude of businesses toward stakeholder pressures is crucial as a means of escaping legitimacy-threatening events. The results of this study demonstrate how public responses to a single incident are diverse in global society and offer new insights regarding the importance of ethics in management leadership and public communication after a crisis incident.     

Consumer responses to high-technology products: Product attributes, cognition, and emotions

The present study investigates how high-technology attributes influence consumer responses. Based on Mehrabian and Russell's Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework (1974), this study proposes that high-technology product attributes elicit consumers' cognitive (attitude) and affective states (pleasure and arousal), contributing to their approach-avoidance behavior. High-technology product users (N = 408) participated in surveys. The results provide support for the model. Among six factors of high-technology product attributes (usefulness, ease of use, innovativeness of technology, visual appeal, prototypicality, and self-expression), the latter four have major influences on approach behavior through attitude (cognitive state) and pleasure (affective state). Supplemental analysis shows that attitude and pleasure influence approach-avoidance behavior directly, but that arousal affects approach-avoidance behavior indirectly via pleasure.     

Consumer motives for buying regional products: the REGIOSCALE

Marketing Letters - Consumers are increasingly turning towards regional products (RP). The Consumer Ethnocentric Scale (CETSCALE) has been widely used to examine consumer motives for buying...     

Consumer loyalty to family versus non-family business: The roles of store image,trust and satisfaction

This study sheds insight on how consumers perceive and relate to family and non-family grocery stores. Using a critical incident approach we show that—compared to non-family businesses—consumers evaluate family businesses better in terms of service, frontline employee benevolence, and problem-solving orientation, and worse in terms of selection and price/value. Results further indicate higher consumer trust in family business management policies and practices, frontline employee trust, and satisfaction but no differences in loyalty. Examining an integrative loyalty framework, the study finally shows differential effects in how image elements influence customer loyalty directly as well as indirectly through trust and satisfaction. Implications focus on advancing customer relationship management in retailing, and on successfully positioning family-owned and -operated businesses.     

Bank Credit Cards: Consumer Irrationality versus Market Forces

Why are bank card interest rates sticky? One explanation is bank card consumer irrationality, a potentially significant market failure requiring government intervention. Alternate explanations focus on efficient market forces. The 1989 Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances data are not consistent with the consumer irrationality hypothesis. The data are consistent with a market-based model of demand for balances and suggest that consumers may rationally eschew search because small outstanding balances imply low returns to search.