Being Arab and American: Understanding Ethnocentric Tendencies for Arab American Consumers

ABSTRACT

Scant research exists on Arab Americans' ethnocentric tendencies towards purchasing American-made products. This study explores the nexus among consumer ethnocentrism, empathy towards local workers, and ethnic identification. We examined ethnic identification, patriotism, dogmatism, and internationalism as potential influences on Arab Americans' ethnocentric tendencies towards purchasing products made in the US. Data were collected from 165 Arab Americans living in Michigan. We found that when Arab consumers felt empathic towards local workers, they were more ethnocentric towards purchasing local products. Arab Americans' ethnic identification neither influenced their ethnocentric tendencies towards American-made products nor their empathic feelings towards American workers. Our study provides key contributions related to minorities' preferences for locally made products.     

The Effects of Consumer Ethnocentrism and Country of Origin on Polish Consumers' Evaluation of Foreign Manufactured Products

The admission of Poland to the European Union may be perceived as the symbolic crowning of a long period of economic transformation. Poland today is not only an emerging market but an emerging culture experiencing a strong economic development wherein old ideals are confronted with new Western values. On this background, the objective of this research is to assess the level and impact of consumer ethnocentrism and the effect of country of origin on consumers’ evaluation of and buying intentions toward foreign manufactured products. Medium-expensive consumer durables—design furniture and fashion clothes—imported from Denmark are examined. Findings show consumer ethnocentrism is present and that more than one-fifth of consumers are highly ethnocentric but also that ethnocentrism has no direct effect on the evaluation of product quality or on buying intention for either of the products from Denmark.     

Managing Opportunism in China: The Roles of Guanxi,Environmental Uncertainty,and Management Culture

ABSTRACT

This cross-cultural comparison aims to understand whether the influence of consumer ethnocentrism (CE) on consumer preference for domestic versus foreign products is product category and country-of-origin dependent. Three countries with dissimilar cultural orientation and economic status—China, South Korea, and the United States—were examined. American consumers were found to be more ethnocentric than Chinese and South Korean consumers. CE was found to significantly and positively predict American and Korean consumers’ preference for domestic products across product categories, while Chinese consumers’ CE did not translate into their preference for Chinese products. In addition, the relationship between CE and purchase preference varied across product categories as well as countries of origin.     

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.     

Ethnocentrism and Its Effect on the Chinese Consumer: A Threat to Foreign Goods?

This study examines ethnocentric tendencies including consumer ethnocentrism, country of origin, product judgments, willingness to buy, and animosity toward foreign products among a sample of economically progressive Chinese college students in a coastal port city in northern China. Survey results suggest that these Chinese consumers held a rather positive view of, and little animosity toward, the United States. They also did not show high levels of ethnocentrism or country-of-origin effects. These results would suggest openness toward foreign products. While Chinese consumers report little animosity or ethnocentric tendencies toward U.S. products, animosity, country of origin, and ethnocentrism are significantly correlated with willingness to buy. This suggests managers need to carefully position foreign products with respect to Chinese consumer expectations. Impacts of traditional collectivist views of the Chinese culture are suggested as an avenue for future research with respect to ethnocentrism and willingness to buy foreign products.     

A meta-analysis of consumer ethnocentrism across 57 countries

The concept of consumer ethnocentrism was introduced more than 30 years ago, and since then it has received keen interest among academic researchers. However, empirical evidence in published studies has been inconclusive and many macro-drivers of consumer ethnocentrism received cursory attention. This study meta-analyses 240 studies from 57 countries and tries to understand the key drivers of consumer ethnocentrism. The results indicate that consumer ethnocentrism is a universal phenomenon and is driven by culture and the interaction of economic and ethnic diversity variables. Challenging popular beliefs, the findings suggest that neither globalization nor economic threats are unconditional drivers of consumer ethnocentrism. Their effects are conditional on cultural values and economic situation. Results provide evidence that multi-ethnic societies tend to be more consumer ethnocentric when the culture of a country is not strong in egalitarianism. Finally, the paper presents evidence that consumer ethnocentrism affects the imports of consumer goods in a country.     

How Consumer Ethnocentrism (CET), Ethnocentric Marketing,and Consumer Individualism Affect Ethnocentric Behavior in China

This study investigates how the value of consumer ethnocentrism (CET) and ethnocentric marketing affect consumers' purchase intentions for domestic and foreign brands in China. In predicting ethnocentric consumer behavior, past research has tended to focus on consumers' ethnocentric values rather than ethnocentric marketing stimuli. In addition, this study examines how the consumer value of individualism and collectivism (IC) affects ethnocentric choice behavior. An experimental study was conducted on 220 Chinese millennials, using fictitious advertisements. The study found that the CET value has moderate effects on consumer purchase intentions for foreign brands, while it strongly influences consumer purchases of domestic brands. In addition, the findings suggest that ethnocentric advertising may not encourage purchases of domestic brands, but can discourage foreign brand purchases. More significantly, individualistic consumers were found to show a greater preference for foreign brands and also their brand choices were less affected by the CET value and ethnocentric advertising.     

Market Segmentation by Exploring Buyer Lifestyle Dimensions and Ethnocentrism Among Vietnamese Consumers: An Empirical Study

ABSTRACT

Studying consumer lifestyles and ethnocentrism is a unique way of finding out buyer behavior and market segmentation. This paper identifies consumer market segments existing among Vietnamese consumers by using lifestyle patterns and ethnocentrism. Data for the study was collected through personal interviews in two main cities in Vietnam, Ho-Chi Min City and Hanoi, which attract growing urban industrialization and population migration rapidly degrading places. Survey findings indicated that ten lifestyle dimensions among the Vietnamese consumers had an influence on their ethnocentric tendencies and buying behavior. The findings provide some implications to marketers who currently operate in or are planning to enter into the Vietnamese market in the near future.     

Conceptualising consumer economic nationalistic tendencies: scale development and validation

Economic nationalism has been identified as a critical component of nationalistic sentiment, influencing cognitions, attitudes, evaluation and purchase intentions. While a distinction is made between economic nationalism and other measures of national and international orientation (i.e. consumer ethnocentrism), previous empirical studies explore the concept in a ‘unified’ form. This study bridges this gap by developing a scale specifically tailored to measure consumer economic nationalistic tendencies. Scale generation, purification, validation and confirmation are achieved through four studies.     

Consumer ethnocentrism,product necessity and quality perceptions of Russian consumers

Retail buyers in Russia have indicated that some customers have expressed a desire to purchase domestically produced products over imports. Consumer ethnocentrism has been proposed as a measure to provide retail buyers with the information necessary to market to these consumers. The purpose of this research is to determine if perceived product quality of products differs based on country of origin, product necessity and consumer ethnocentric tendency. A repeated measures ANOVA test indicates that perceived quality differs by necessity, by product, by country. A consumer ethnocentrism effect on the overall model, however, was not significant. We conclude that Russian consumers do perceive differences in product quality based on country of origin and product necessity, but that consumer ethnocentrism does not have an effect on perceived product quality.     

Consumer ethnocentrism in a developing economy: A preliminary investigation

The attitudes of consumers from a developing economy toward ethnocentrism were assessed in this exploratory study of 123 respondents from Nigeria. The results indicate that consumers hold varying views of ethnocentric behavior. While recognizing the possibility of negative economic consequences for the importing nation, consumers are reluctant to endorse strong measures against imports. This is especially true for products that may be difficult to produce locally or those that offer a distinctly higher level of quality. Contrastingly, consumers appear to support public activity that encourages a spirit of international business cooperation. An exporting nation's social, political, and religious philosophies appear to have minimal impact upon the demand for its products. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The moderating impact of perceived globalness on consumers’ purchase intentions for copycats: The pleasure of hurting global brands

Copycats or “me‐too” brands imitate prominent features of market leaders with the intention to benefit from consumers’ positive associations of the imitated brand. However, the imitated market leader can be perceived as being local (=in‐group) or global (=out‐group). Employing social identity theory, Study 1 examined the interaction between copycat strategy and perceived globalness of the brand, showing that consumers have higher purchase intentions for global copycats versus a local counterpart. Study 2 shows that the interacting effect of copycat strategy and perceived globalness is moderated by consumer ethnocentrism. Further, authors demonstrate that a global copycat elicit greater schadenfreude (vs. local brand), which in turn increases consumers’ purchase intentions. Subsequent mediation analysis shows that ethnocentric consumers experience schadenfreude upon encountering copycats of global brands, which in turn increases purchase intention, whereas low ethnocentric consumers show higher purchase intentions for local differentiated brands because they deem a copycat strategy as unacceptable. Finally, Study 3 examines whether the results from Studies 1 and 2 continue to hold for theme copycats.     

Toward understanding the young consumer's brand associations and ethnocentrism in the lion's port

This study examines consumer brand associations, focusing on the differences in price perceptions, self‐image, and brand–image congruency held for Western and Eastern brands of fashion clothing by young Singaporeans. The study also examines consumer ethnocentric tendencies (CET), finding very low levels of ethnocentrism among respondents, and that ethnocentrism had no effect on brand preference or purchase intention for brands from different origins. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Effect of Normative and Affective Aspects on Willingness to Pay for Domestic Food Products—A Multiple Price List Experiment

There is limited knowledge about which factors underlie consumers’ preferences for domestic food products. We used a non-hypothetical multiple-price list experiment to investigate the effect of affective (product-related emotions) and normative (consumer ethnocentrism and subjective norms) factors on consumer willingness to pay for domestic food products. A total of 166 Croatian consumers were given a choice between domestic and foreign food products with different price premiums for domestic food. The results indicate that consumers are willing to pay a premium for both low- and high-involvement domestic food products. Consumer willingness to pay for domestic products is influenced by ethnocentrism, product-related emotions, and sociodemographic variables, but not by social norms.     

An examination of the relationship among consumer lifestyles,ethnocentrism, knowledge structures,attitudes and behavioural tendencies: a comparative study in two CIS states

The objective of this study is to investigate ethnocentric and/or regiocentric behaviour of Azeri and Kyrgyz consumers. In particular, the study focuses on how ethnocentrism explains consumers' attitudes, intentions and actual purchasing behaviour towards products from major sourcing countries. Data for the study were collected through personal interviews in four districts of Greater Bishkek: the capital city of Kyrgyz Republic, and Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan. Survey findings lend greater support to earlier studies conducted in the USA, Western and Eastern Europe and Japan. Non-ethnocentric Kyrgyz and Azeri consumers have significantly more favourable belief structures, attitudes, intentions and the resultant purchasing behaviour regarding imported products compared to their ethnocentric Azeri and Kyrgyz consumer counterparts. The findings of the study offer important research, public policy and managerial implications for companies, government agencies and international donor agencies alike who are either operating in the region or contemplating an entry in the future. Foreign companies may use pan-regional marketing strategies and may be able to standardise their products and marketing strategies in the region, since consumers have identical and/or very similar use behaviour and uses for the products and services.     

How consumer ethnocentrism modulates neural processing of domestic and foreign products: A neuroimaging study

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.     

Consumers’ Preferences and Attitudes Toward Local Food Products

In recent years, consumers’ interest in local food has significantly increased. Several studies in the agricultural economics and marketing literature have analyzed mainly consumers’ preferences for local food products. In this study, we perform a consumer segmentation with regard to consumer behavior toward local food. We collected data from a survey conducted during summer 2010 in Naples, South Italy. Consumer segments were identified taking account of five aspects: (1) food consumption styles; (2) perception of local food; (3) purchasing motives; (4) perceived quality of local food; and (5) sociodemographic characteristics. They could be profiled as ethnocentric consumers, environmentalists, strict localists, and quality labeling oriented.     

How anticipated regret influences the effect of economic animosity on consumers’ reactions towards a foreign product

We use regret theory to explain the negative effect of economic animosity on consumers’ reactions towards a foreign product (i.e., product judgment and reluctant to buy). We conduct our study in Taiwan by collecting data via an online survey. Our results show that consumers’ economic animosity increases their anticipated regret towards purchasing a foreign product originating from a target market of animosity. Specifically, anticipated regret is found to mediate the link between economic animosity and foreign product judgment, which in turns affects consumers’ reluctance to buy. Our study is the first to consider the role of anticipated regret in explaining the negative effect of economic animosity on consumers’ reactions towards a foreign product. We also contribute to research by introducing two antecedents of economic animosity: perceived economic competition and consumer ethnocentrism.     

Mitigating consumer ethnocentrism via advertising and media consumption in a transitional market

Consumer ethnocentrism is considered an important barrier to consumption in the global marketplace. Although the concept of consumer ethnocentrism has been investigated over many years in developed markets, there is little research addressing the mitigation of consumer ethnocentrism in transitional economies, which are becoming increasingly important in the global marketplace. One such market, Russia, represents a major potential investment opportunity for global marketers. In this study, we undertake an exploratory study investigating consumer ethnocentrism’s negative influence on Russians’ attitudes towards foreign products and their frequency of purchase of foreign products. We also demonstrate that the influence of consumer ethnocentrism on the frequency of purchase of foreign products is moderated by consumers’ exposure to mass communication (i.e. exposure to television, exposure to foreign movies) and by marketing communication efforts (i.e. exposure to foreign product advertising, involvement with foreign product advertising). In addition to extending theoretical research to a transitional, non-Western context, the empirical results also provide implications for international advertising practitioners.     

Measuring Consumer Ethnocentrism: An Assessment of Reliability,Validity and Dimensionality of the CETSCALE in a Developing Market

ABSTRACT

Based on 305 surveyed consumers in Zimbabwe’s two major cities (Harare and Bulawayo), the study sought mainly to measure consumer ethnocentrism and to test psychometric properties of the CETSCALE in Zimbabwe using structural equation modeling. It was established that the construct of consumer ethnocentrism comprises two dimensions, namely negative influence of foreign products, and preference for domestic products. Consumer ethnocentrism was found to be moderately high. The psychometric properties of the CETSCALE tested above the required thresholds. Consumer ethnocentrism was found to negatively influence consumer attitude towards imported poultry products. The study has implications for managers and future researchers.