Do Consumers Discriminate Against Foreign Companies Even When They are Green?

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe international business literature has long investigated the role of corporate environmentalism, or “going green,” in business. However, this research has been limited regarding the dynamics of a firm's eco-friendly image and consumers' intention to purchase the firm's products in light of the consumer's complex social viewpoint and how that eco-friendly image is perceived. This limitation is due in part to the complex nature of the eco-friendly image-purchase intention relationship, especially when taking into account the consumers' identification with the firm, as well as the role of consumer ethnocentrism. Through the use of an experimental survey, we found differences between countries and the role of the firm's eco-friendly image and consumer ethnocentrism. In particular, an eco-friendly image was positively related to identification with the firm in a German company sample. The findings also show that this identification mediates the effect of eco-friendly image on purchase intention. Consumer ethnocentrism significantly moderated the effect of this identification on purchase intention as well in the Chinese company sample. Implications for managers of multinational enterprises are discussed, as are avenues for future research.