Does consumer ethnocentrism influence product knowledge?

Abstract

Consumer ethnocentrism refers to the consumer opinion as to whether or not it is appropriate or even immoral to purchase foreign-made products. The focus of this paper is to analyze the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and consumer knowledge structures with the example of Bavarian food products. By means of concept mapping and structured interviews with 193 consumers in three different European countries, consumer ethnocentrism and knowledge of Bavarian food products was queried. Results of count-data regression models show that there is a negative relation between consumer ethnocentrism and the complexity of product knowledge. While there is no significant effect of gender, age and education, nationality matters with regard to the complexity of cognitive structures. The information about the relation between the level of consumer ethnocentrism and product knowledge can help marketers to segment the market more effectively and thus to successfully target different consumer groups with appropriate product communication.