City Research Online

Abstract

Purpose – Despite the well-established impact of consumer ethnocentrism (CET) on purchase intentions, extant literature offers limited evidence on actual purchase behaviour. This study addresses this gap by investigating the factors underlying variations in consumer ethnocentric behaviour using reported brand purchases. Product category, product cost and visibility, brand and country of origin 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 United States from a sample of 468 consumers. Self-reported brand purchases are used and involve 10 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 country of origin may be more effective in mitigating the negative effects of CET.

Originality/value – This study contributes to extant literature on CET and country of origin by investigating, for the first time, the problem of inconsistent predictions of purchase behaviour in the context of foreign versus domestic brands. For this purpose, the study adopted a novel methodological approach to investigate actual brand purchases.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Copyright Emerald Publishing 2017
Publisher Keywords:	consumer ethnocentrism, country of origin, global brands, product category
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HG Finance
Departments:	Bayes Business School > Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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