Globalization and reluctant buyers

This study attempted to empirically test a debatable hypothesis that globalization entails homogenization in consumers’ mind and behavior. Using samples from two countries (USA, n = 120 and Korea, n= 128), this study explored a path model centered on consumers’ reluctance to purchase foreign goods. The findings indicated that, in the US sample only, consumer ethnocentrism plays a mediating role between global openness and the reluctance to buy, although it is on the decrease with the increasing level of global openness. Consumer ethnocentrism is still an important factor in determining the magnitude of reluctance to buy a foreign product in both samples, while product judgment also plays an important role, but only in a certain cultural context (i.e. the USA). It is concluded, therefore, that consumers in a different culture, who are different in their attitudes and perceptions, tastes and preferences, and values, are still different even after being exposed to the massive wave of globalization.

[1]  Donald R. Lichtenstein,et al.  A Cross-National Assessment of the Reliability and Validity of the CETSCALE: , 1991 .

[2]  Alice M. Tybout,et al.  Designing Research for Application , 1981 .

[3]  D. Campbell,et al.  Convergent and Discriminant Validity by the Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix,” Psychological Bulletin (2), March, pp. . , 1959 .

[4]  Russell S. Winer,et al.  Experimentation in the 21st century: The importance of external validity , 1999 .

[5]  G. Tomas M. Hult,et al.  A five‐country study of national identity , 1999 .

[6]  Israel D. Nebenzahl,et al.  Towards a Theory of Country Image Effect on Product Evaluation , 1997 .

[7]  R. Robertson,et al.  Modernization, Globalization and the Problem of Culture in World-Systems Theory , 1985 .

[8]  Richard G. Netemeyer,et al.  A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Consumer Ethnocentrism in the United States and Russia , 1997 .

[9]  D. Maheswaran,et al.  Country of Origin as a Stereotype: Effects of Consumer Expertise and Attribute Strength on Product Evaluations , 1994 .

[10]  C. Lamb,et al.  Effect of Worldmindedness among Professional Buyers upon Their Willingness to Buy Foreign Products , 1982 .

[11]  C. Craig,et al.  International Marketing Research , 1983 .

[12]  D. O. Sears.  College sophomores in the laboratory: Influences of a narrow data base on social psychology's view of human nature. , 1986 .

[13]  M. d'Amico,et al.  Global consumer tendencies , 2001 .

[14]  Vern Terpstra,et al.  Country-of-Origin Effects for Uni-National and Bi-National Products , 1988 .

[15]  W. Catton.  The Functions and Dysfunctions of Ethnocentrism: A Theory , 1960 .

[16]  C. Han,et al.  THE ROLE OF CONSUMER PATRIOTISM IN THE CHOICE OF DOMESTIC VERSUS FOREIGN PRODUCTS , 1988 .

[17]  J. Darling,et al.  The Marketing Challenges of the Newly Independent Republics , 1993 .

[18]  Adamantios Diamantopoulos,et al.  The Impact of Nationalism, Patriotism and Internationalism on Consumer Ethnocentric Tendencies , 2001 .

[19]  J. Darling,et al.  THE COMPETITIVE POSITION ABROAD OF PRODUCTS AND MARKETING PRACTICES OF THE UNITED STATES, JAPAN, AND SELECTED EUROPEAN COUNTRIES , 1988 .

[20]  Hellmut Schütte,et al.  Consumer Behavior in Asia , 1998 .

[21]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  Refinement and reassessment of the SERVQUAL scale. , 1991 .

[22]  Russell W. Belk,et al.  Hyperreality and Globalization , 1996 .

[23]  Robert S. Wyer,et al.  The role of country of origin in product evaluations: Informational and standard-of-comparison effects , 1994 .

[24]  T. Adorno.  The Authoritarian Personality , 1950 .

[25]  R. Parmentier,et al.  Entangled Objects: Exchange, Material Culture, and Colonialism in the Pacific. , 1993 .

[26]  Subhash Sharma,et al.  Consumer ethnocentrism: A test of antecedents and moderators , 1995 .

[27]  D. Campbell,et al.  Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix. , 1959, Psychological bulletin.

[28]  M. D. Morris,et al.  The Animosity Model of Foreign Product Purchase: An Empirical Test in the People's Republic of China: , 1998 .

[29]  Louise A. Heslop,et al.  Impact of country-of-origin cues on consumer judgments in multi-cue situations: a covariance analysis , 1991 .

[30]  R. Kosterman,et al.  Toward a measure of patriotic and nationalistic attitudes. , 1989 .

[31]  Subhash Sharma,et al.  Consumer Ethnocentrism: Construction and Validation of the CETSCALE: , 1987 .

[32]  R. Brislin,et al.  Cross-cultural training across the individualism-collectivism divide , 1988 .

[33]  Robert S. Wyer,et al.  Effects of Country-of-Origin and Product-Attribute Information on Product Evaluation: An Information Processing Perspective , 1989 .

[34]  Youjae Yi,et al.  A Cross-National Comparison of Country-of-Origin Effects on Product Evaluations , 1992 .

[35]  R. Wyer,et al.  The Role of Country of Origin in Product Evaluations , 1994 .

[36]  J. Lynch.  Theory and external validity , 1999 .

[37]  T. Levitt.  THE GLOBALIZATION OF MARKETS , 1983 .

[38]  Raffaella Ocone,et al.  Introduction on Methodology* , 1967, A Textbook of Christian Ethics.

[39]  J. Darling,et al.  A Longitudinal Study Comparing Perceptions of U.S. and Japanese Consumer Products in a Third/Neutral Country: Finland 1975 to 1985 , 1990 .