Long-Term Stability Of Ethnocentric Consumer Attitudes

Abstract

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 34.2pt 0pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">This research conducts the first cohort longitudinal study of the CETSCALE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Data collected in surveys of Business Administration students in 2000, and the fall of 2005 and winter of 2006 are analyzed to determine whether the ethnocentric attitudes of consumers have changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Nonnormal distribution of the data due to kurtosis and severe skewness complicate confirmatory factor analysis, necessitating a three-phased effort to obtain an acceptable construct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The results indicate that although the mean CETSCALE score decreased two points (from 45.2 to 43.2), the change was not significant at p = 0.05.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>This research also confirms that the CETSCALE remains a highly reliable survey instrument, with Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.94 and Composite Reliability of 0.93.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Implications of this study for practitioners and the future study of consumer attitudes toward the purchase of imported products are also addressed.</span></span></p>