Country-of-origin, animosity and consumer response: Marketing implications of anti-Americanism and Francophobia

Anti-Americanism and Francophobia express a consistent hostility toward the government, culture, history or people of the US and France or the Francophonie (the global community of French-speaking peoples). This study explores interactions between country-of-origin (COO) effects and animosity expressed through anti-Americanism and Francophobia through analysis of scholarly studies, several decades of articles from the general and online press in the US and France, and ethnographic fieldwork in France and the US results reveal interesting inconsistencies and variability in national expressions of consumer animosity and response to COO cues over the time of the study, underlining the need for further longitudinal study of animosity, COO effects and consumer response. Implications of findings are examined with reference to theory development, marketing practice, and public policy.     

Do strained bilateral relations affect tourists’ desire to visit a country that is a target of animosity?

ABSTRACT

This study examines the attractiveness of destination tourism offerings when the destination country and the source market country are engaged in ongoing political and economic conflict. The study is set in the Russia–United States (US) context, where Russia is the tourism-generating region and the US are the vacation destination. Specifically, the study investigates how the desire of Russian tourists to vacation in the US is affected by perceptions of the US as a country and as a vacation destination, animosity toward the US, and Russian tourists? level of national attachment and ethnocentric tendencies. The study found that country image, destination image, and general animosity have a direct effect on intention to visit. The effects of consumer ethnocentrism and national situational animosity on intention to visit are mediated by destination image and country image respectively.     

Modeling the Effects of an International Crisis on Brand Equity

ABSTRACT

This research provides an analysis of the impact of an international crisis on brand equity. More specifically, the author tests a comprehensive model that examines the joint impact of animosity as well as the social pressure to avoid brands that originate from a controversial country. He explores the impact of what came to be known as the Mohammed controversy, which involved the Danish press publishing a series of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed on a Danish brand. Data were collected using a survey from 307 consumers in Kuwait. The findings show that animosity is not related to overall brand equity but is related to brand quality; moreover, subjective norms are negatively associated with overall brand equity. These results highlight the importance of subjective norms in influencing overall brand equity in times of international crises between nations.     

Consumer affinity for foreign countries: Construct development,buying behavior consequences and animosity contrasts

PurposeOur purpose is to extend affinity theory in construct domain, scale development, model testing and by discerning affinity and animosity.Design/methodology/approachWe carry out exploratory and empirical research in order to explore the domain and to test the factor structure and the hypotheses through confirmatory analysis.FindingsWe find (1) four target country affinity dimensions, (2) consumer affinity impacts micro country image, buying intentions and actual product ownership, and (3) affinity and animosity are distinct constructs with partly shared and partly unique dimensions.Originality/valueThe study is the first to empirically test the four dimensions, the first to establish a positive relationship with actual product ownership and micro country image, and the first to contrast the role of the dimensions in affinity and animosity.     

The influence of political conflicts on country image and intention to visit: A study of Israel's image

This paper analyzes the image of Israel, a country subject to continuous conflicts, and the effect of a political event on its image. A measurement model is examined before and after a specific international incident, the Mavi Marmara conflict between Turkey and Israel, in order to understand how this event influences the image that the Turks have of Israel, as well as their intention to visit the place. The results confirm that, when people have previous animosity towards a nation, the image of this country is formed mainly through its affective component and not through its cognitive one. The research concludes that a political conflict between two countries significantly damages the country image through the affective component and boosts the previously held animosity. The incident also increases the negative influence of the affective image on the overall country image and on the intention to visit the place.     

年轻消费者敌意对购买意愿的影响

在中日政治关系改善势头明显的新时代背景下,考察中国消费者对日本的战争敌意和经济敌意的感知、对日本产品购买意愿的影响以及消费者敌意对购买意愿的认知和情感机制.通过研究,我们发现:战争敌意和经济敌意对国家认知形象无显著作用,但对国家情感形象有显著的负向作用;国家认知形象和国家情感形象对购买意愿具有显著的正向作用;国家情感形...     

A cross-cultural comparison of electronic word-of-mouth and country-of-origin effects

Word-of-mouth has been shown to differ across cultures but the extent to which these differences extend to the online environment has not been investigated. This study examines the content of 5993 discussion postings to U.S.- and China-based discussion boards during two 90-day periods in 2004 and 2005. The results show significant differences in the behavior of participants on the different discussion boards; those on the China-based discussion boards engaged in higher levels of information-seeking than their U.S. counterparts, and lower levels of information-giving. Participants on the Chinese discussion boards also engaged in significantly higher (and increasing) levels of discussion regarding the Country-of-Origin (CoO) of products. This first study of cross-cultural differences in CoO effects online revealed an important extension to previous offline studies of CoO effects, finding strong negative CoO effects which appeared to be largely independent of product quality, relating instead to nationally based animosity towards the CoO.     

The extension of animosity model of foreign product purchase: Does country of origin matter?

Although a growing literature has investigated how animosity and consumer ethnocentrism change customers’ perceptions of foreign products in developed markets, research examining these effects in developing markets is scarce. Additionally, the role of country of origin on such effects has received far less attention. The current paper is developed to bridge these gaps. The primary objectives of this paper are to examine whether the animosity and consumer ethnocentrism models that work in the Western world could be applied into a developing market like Vietnam, and whether these relationships are moderated by country of origin (USA versus China). Data from 485 Vietnamese customers illustrate that most of the main effects are significant except for the relationship between ethnocentrism and product judgement, and the relationship between cosmopolitanism and willingness to buy. Furthermore, out of the three moderation effects, the influence of country of origin on the relationship between ethnocentrism and willingness to buy is significant. The paper concludes with theoretical and managerial implications, limitations, and future research.     

Effect of consumer animosity on boycott campaigns in a cross-cultural context: Does consumer affinity matter?

Global companies have often suffered from unexpected boycott campaigns in foreign markets owing to consumer animosity toward a country of origin. This study aims to empirically investigate how consumer animosity (toward economic sanctions) and affinity predict consumer boycotts. We conduct a country comparison, employing the PROCESS macro to test the moderated mediation hypothesis, using data from 571 and 500 consumers in South Korea and Japan, respectively. The results find a negative indirect effect of animosity on purchase amount via boycott attitude and intention in both countries. The direct impact of animosity on purchase amount (in the case of South Korea) and the moderated mediation effect of consumer affinity (in the case of Japan) are partially supported. Therefore, the offsetting influence of consumer affinity in mitigating the effects of consumer animosity in the context of boycott campaigns is highlighted, offering novel managerial implications.