Effects of Animosity and Allocentrism on Consumer Ethnocentrism: Social Identity on Consumer Willingness to Purchase

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is three-fold: (a) specifying the factor that mediates the effect of consumer animosity on attitude towards domestic vis-a-vis imported products; (b) specifying the factor that mediates the effect of allocentrism on consumers' attitudes toward domestic vis-a-vis imported products; and (c) examining whether product quality evaluation between domestic vis-a-vis imported products moderates the relationships between consumer animosity and willingness to purchase as well as between ethnocentrism and consumers' willingness to purchase. A survey was sent to 1000 adults in Taiwan. The results indicated that the level of consumer animosity was positively related to the level of consumer ethnocentrism; whereas consumer ethnocentrism was positively related to willingness to purchase. In addition, the level of allocentrism toward friends was positively related to consumer ethnocentrism, and consumer ethnocentrism was positively related to willingness to purchase. The findings provide valuable lessons for domestic and foreign marketers who work in the global marketplace. Future research will benefit from further improvements in the measures of consumer animosity that tap into the various facets of the construct.