Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Rosdin Anang
Faculty of Business, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Nor Othman
Department of Marketing and Information Systems, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and
Murali Sambasivan
Graduate School of Management, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Serdang, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose The main purpose of this research is to empirically test how animosity, religiosity, and ethnocentrism interact to affect judgment about
US products and purchase action of consumers in a progressive Islamic country like Malaysia. There are many studies that have been
conducted in conservative Islamic countries such as Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Design/methodology/approach The product chosen for this research is US fast food restaurants. A questionnaire was constructed and responses
were obtained from 410 Malaysian consumers from different ethnic backgrounds. The authors tested the framework using structural equation
modeling (SEM). Findings Based on the test results, the authors conclude the following significant relationships: animosity on purchase
action of consumers, ethnocentric tendencies on animosity of consumers, religiosity on ethnocentric tendencies of consumers, religiosity on
animosity of consumers, ethnocentric tendencies of consumers on judgment of foreign product, foreign product judgment of consumers on purchase
action, and animosity and ethnocentrism play mediating roles.
Originality/value The current study adds significantly to the body of knowledge on consumer behavior, especially the roles of animosity,
religiosity, and ethnocentrism. The findings can help marketing managers to formulate appropriate strategies when consumers decide to boycott US
products.
Keywords Religiosity, Malaysia, Animosity, Ethnocentrism, US products
Paper type Research paper
An executive summary for managers and executive
readers can be found at the end of this article.
Introduction
Favorable or unfavorable disposition of consumers towards a
country results in acceptance or rejection of products or
services offered by that country (Maheswaran, 2006).
Consumers may have a feeling of hostility or animosity
towards certain countries resulting in boycotting their
products and services (Klein et al., 1998; Smith and Li,
2010). According to AlShebil et al. (2011), consumer
boycotts are increasingly being used by various activist and
religious groups to punish targeted countries. The policies of
the US (US) across the Middle-East and Afghanistan have
been the subject of criticism in many countries dominated by
Muslims and religious groups in these countries have urged
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551
Literature review
An initial study by Schooler (1965), triggered a plethora of
studies documenting the influence of COO on the product
evaluation and purchase behavior of consumers (e.g. Ahmed
and dAstous, 2001; Bilkey and Nes, 1982; Bruning, 1997;
Han and Terpstra, 1988; Lee et al., 1992; Papadopoulos et al.,
1998; Samiee, 1994). However, there is a dearth of studies
related to service products (Javalgi et al., 2001).
According to Papadopoulos et al. (1998), the consumer
perceptions of a products COO is based on three
components of attitude (cognition, affection and conation).
Cognition refers to the knowledge about the products or
services; affection refers to the favorable or unfavorable
attitude towards the COO; and conation refers to the actual
buying behavior. The affection or the emotional component
can play a dominant role in the purchase of foreign products
or services (Kinra, 2006). The constructs animosity,
ethnocentric tendencies, and religiosity used in this research
are important emotional components influencing consumer
behavior (Klein et al. 1998; Shimp and Sharma, 1987; Sood
and Nasu, 1995).
Many researchers have used dual process models as a
theoretical basis for understanding COO effects and the dual
process of persuasion is: systematic processing and heuristic
processing (Chaiken, 1980; Eagly and Chaiken, 1984; Petty
and Cacioppo, 1986; Maheswaran et al., 1992). These models
suggest that COO
perceptions influence subsequent
evaluations of products or services associated with that
country and perceptions of the country are associated with
emotional components. According to Tiedens and Linton
(2001), emotional components influence persuasion. Many
scholars have shown that the positive or negative valence of
the mood state influences subsequent evaluations of a target
(Maheswaran, 2006, p. 4). It is well known that the
generalized mood significantly influences persuasion and
specific emotions in that mood have differential effects on
persuasion (Bodenhausen et al., 1994; DeStono et al., 2000;
Johnson and Tversky, 1983; Lerner and Keltner, 2000). The
construct animosity, used in this study falls under this
category and this emotion induces heuristic processing of
persuasion (Bodenhausen et al., 1994). There are many
definitions for animosity but in this research, we use the
following definition proposed by Klein et al. (1998, p. 90):
animosity is remnants of antipathy related to previous or
ongoing military, political, or economic events.
The ethnocentric behavior of consumers can be explained
through the social identity theory (SIT) (Turner, 1987).
According to this theory, ethnocentrism occurs when
consumers see themselves as members of a distinct group
rather than unique individuals. This process leads them to
adopt a social identity where their beliefs, ideas, attitudes,
values and behaviors tend to reflect norms of their group and
they see their group as superior, positive and distinct as
compared to others (Turner, 1987). If based in developed
(western) countries, the members of this distinctive group
view foreign products as inferior and threatening to their
country and consequently do not favor them. This attitude of
consumers has a direct effect on the purchase of foreign
products (Erdener and Ali, 2002; Saffu et al., 2010; Lu and
Hypotheses development
Relationship between animosity and purchase behavior
Our arguments are based on the studies that have established
the role of emotions in influencing the use of COO on
product/service evaluations (Lerner and Keltner, 2000;
Maheswaran, 2006; Tiedens and Linton, 2001). Based on
the theory of dual process of persuasion (Maheswaran, 2006),
consumers with a high level of animosity towards a particular
country are prone to impulsive and quick response to
products/services because of the past or future actions of the
country that may be in the form of military aggression,
economic sanctions and political blackmail. Many scholars
have established a strong link between animosity and
purchase behavior of consumers towards the products
produced by countries that have conflicts (Ang et al., 2004;
Bahaee and Pisani, 2009; Klein et al., 1998; Nijssen and
Douglas, 2004; Rose et al., 2008). Based on above arguments,
we hypothesize that:
H1.
H2.
H5.
H8.
Methodology
This study uses questionnaire-based survey method to collect
data and test the hypotheses. The foreign product that has
been chosen for this research is US-based fast food
restaurants such as KFC, McDonald, Burger King, Pizza
Hut, Starbucks and A&W located across Malaysia. According
to Javalgi et al. (2001), service industry such as fast-food
restaurants has a significant international presence and is also
one of the fastest growing industries across the world. The
respondents were selected from the Klang Valley, a region
housing all major international fast-food restaurants. The
sampling method employed was convenience sampling, a
non-probabilistic method. Only the respondents who were
aware of the US fast food restaurants were requested to fill up
the questionnaire. The samples were contacted mainly
through referrals and random calls. The instrument was
distributed to 600 consumers and 410 completed
questionnaires were returned (a response rate of 68
percent). Out of 410 responses, seven were found
incomplete and dropped from further consideration. An
analysis was done based on 403 responses.
Measure religiosity
This study has adapted the items developed by Wilkes et al.
(1986) to measure the construct, religiosity. This construct
has four items and is measured using a seven-point Likert
scale with 1 indicating strongly disagree and 7
indicating strongly agree. The items are given in the
Appendix.
Measure consumer animosity
The items for this construct have been adapted from the study
by Nijssen and Douglas (2004). This construct has 11 items
and is measured using a seven-point Likert scale with 1
indicating strongly disagree and 7 indicating strongly
agree. The items are given in Appendix.
Measure consumer ethnocentrism
The items for this construct have been adapted based on the
study by Shimp and Sharma (1987). They have developed a
CETSCALE with 17 items and this scale has been tested in
many studies. CETSCALE is measured using a seven-point
Likert scale with 1 indicating strongly disagree and 7
indicating strongly agree. The items are given in the
Appendix.
Measure product judgment
The items for this construct have been adapted from the study
by Darling and Arnold (1988). This construct has 13 items
and is measured using a seven-point Likert scale with 1
indicating strongly disagree and 7 indicating strongly
Results
The demographic profile of the respondents is given in Table I.
The Malaysian population is composed of three main ethnic
groups; Malays, Chinese, and Indians. All the ethnic groups
are represented adequately in the sample. The religious
affiliations of the respondents are also adequately represented
with majority (46.4 percent) being affiliated to Islam. The
Malaysian population consists of: 60 percent Muslims, 19
percent Buddhists, 9 percent Christians, 6 percent Hindus
and 6 percent others. When compared to other Islamic
countries, Malaysia is unique as it has people from all the
ethnic groups living in peace and harmony. The sample
respondents are from different backgrounds with different
qualifications and different professions.
The mean values of various constructs are given in Table
II and some values deserve mention. The highest mean values
are for religiosity and animosity. This result is not surprising
given
the fact that majority of the population in Malaysia
are
Muslims. The sentiments of the Muslims in Malaysia
reflect the sentiments of the Muslims in other parts of the
world. However, the levels of animosity and religiosity are not
too high (mean of animosity 4.58 on a seven-scale;
mean of religiosity 4.60 on a seven-scale). The level of
ethnocentric
tendencies are moderate (mean value 4.08 on a sevenscale).
These results are not surprising since Malaysia is considered
to be a progressive Islamic country. An ethnocentric
tendencies score of 4.08 on a seven-scale indicate the
Malaysian consumers are moderately ethnocentric. The
mean score on
purchase behavior is 3.78 on a seven-scale. Despite
being
religious and having significant levels of animosity towards US
because of its foreign policies and aggressive actions
across Muslim
countries
such as Iraq,
Iran,
and
Afghanistan, Malaysian consumers are not overtly averse
to patronizing
the US fast food restaurants. The correlation values
between
different constructs are given in Table II. The table shows
that all correlation values are significant.
Reliability and validity of constructs
Reliability of the instrument was tested using Cronbachs
Alpha. The Alpha scores for each construct are given in
Table III. Based on the results, it can be seen that Alpha
scores lie between 0.721 and 0.960. According to Nunnally
(1978), a Cronbachs Alpha scores of 0.70 and above are
considered adequate for the reliability of the instrument. We
tested validity of the constructs using confirmatory factor
analysis (CFA). We ran the CFA model for each construct
using LISREL 8.52 and the results are given in Table III.
Based on the results of CFA, all constructs satisfy the criteria
recommended for CFA , 0.08 for RMSEA and RMR;
. 0.9 for GFI, CFI and NFI; , 3.0 for Chi-square/df (Hair
Frequency
Gender
Male
Female
171
232
42.4
57.6
Age
Below 19 years
20 to 29 years
30 to 39 years
40 to 49 years
Above 50 years
27
198
107
62
9
6.7
49.1
26.6
15.4
2.2
Ethnic background
Malay
Chinese
Indian
Bumiputra Sabah and Sarawak
Others
183
170
38
6
6
45.4
42.2
9.4
1.5
1.5
Marital status
Single
Married without children
Married with children
Divorce, widow, separated
214
33
151
5
53.1
8.2
37.5
1.2
Education level
High school
College diploma
Bachelor degree/professional degree
101
67
240
23.8
16.6
59.6
86
91
79
66
31
27
23
21.3
22.6
19.6
16.4
7.7
6.7
5.7
44
148
150
61
10.9
36.7
37.2
15.1
Occupation
Management
Executive
Professional (engineer/lawyer etc.)
Government servant (professional)
Government servant (support staff)
School teacher
Self-employed/businessman
Clerical
Student
Housewife
Others
18
73
35
16
18
32
22
13
144
7.0
25
4.5
18.1
8.7
4.0
4.5
7.9
5.5
3.2
35.7
1.7
6.2
Religion
Islam
Christianity
Buddhism/Taoism
Hinduism
No religion
Others
187
47
122
27
17
3
46.4
11.7
30.3
6.7
4.2
0.7
Note: n=403
the mediating
roles of
Mean
SD
Religiosity
Consumer animosity
Consumer ethnocentrism
Product judgment
Purchase action
4.6
4.6
4.1
4.3
3.8
1.3
1.3
1.5
0.75
1.06
1
0.683 *
0.749 *
2 0.333 *
2 0.320 *
0.47
1
0.838 *
2 0.406 *
2 0.431 *
0.56
0.70
1
2 0.464 *
2 0.419 *
0.1024
0.17
0.22
1
0.495 *
0.26
0.19
0.18
0.25
1
Note: *Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (numbers above the diagonal are squared correlations)
Reliability/CR/AVE
GFI
RMSEA
Validity test
RMR
ChiSQ/df
p-value
0.72/0.73/0.61
0.92/0.924/0.75
0.96/0.956/0.78
0.64/0.66/0.52
0.66/0.79/0.54
Saturated fit
0.96
0.98
0.92
0.94
Saturated fit
0.056
0.064
0.078
0.072
Saturated fit
0.038
0.047
0.067
0.070
Saturated fit
1.16
1.09
1.86
1.75
Saturated fit
0.23
0.36
0.15
0.22
Relationship
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Standardized coefficient, r
t-value/p-value
2 0.26
2 0.037
2 0.01
0.74
0.75
0.13
2 0.065
2 0.44
0.38
2 3.24/0.041 *
2 0.47/0.34
2 0.2/0.43
18.30/0.001 *
22.64/0/0.000 *
3.1/0.045 *
2 0.3/0.4
2 4.87/0.02 *
8.05/0.008 *
Notes: *Significant at 0.05 level; RMSEA 0.00051; RMR 0.00031; Chi-square/df 0.01; p-value for test of close fit 0.94; GFI 0.99; CFI 0.99
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Appendix
Table AI Items in the questionnaire
No.
Items
Source
Religiosity
1
I go to mosque/church/temple/place of worship regularly
2
Spiritual values are more important than material things
3
If Malaysia were more religious, this would be a better country
4
I consider myself to be very religious
(Wilkes
(Wilkes
(Wilkes
(Wilkes
et
et
et
et
Animosity
1
I feel angry towards US involvement in the war against other countries
2
I can still get angry over the US role in the other countries
3
I will never forgive the US for occupying and killing the civilians in other countries
4
US are liable for the damage caused by the bombardment of other countries
5
I will never forgive the US for bombing of other countries
6
When doing business with the US one should be careful
7
US companies are not a reliable trading partners
8
US wants to gain economic power over Malaysia
9
US companies often outsmart Malaysian companies in business deals
10
US have too much influence on the Malaysians and their countries economy
11
US companies are treating Malaysian consumers unfairly
(Nijssen
(Nijssen
(Nijssen
(Nijssen
(Nijssen
(Nijssen
(Nijssen
(Nijssen
(Nijssen
(Nijssen
(Nijssen
and Douglas,
and Douglas,
and Douglas,
and Douglas,
and Douglas,
and Douglas,
and Douglas,
and Douglas,
and Douglas,
and Douglas,
and Douglas,
Ethnocentrism
1
Malaysian consumers should always buy Malaysian made products instead of imports
2
Only those products that are unavailable in Malaysia should be imported
3
Buy Malaysian-made products. Keep Malaysians working
4
Malaysian products, first, last and foremost
5
Purchasing foreign-made products is un-Malaysians
6
It is not right to purchase foreign products
7
A real Malaysian should always buy Malaysian-made products
8
We should purchase products produced in Malaysia instead of letting other countries get rich off us
9
It is always best to purchase Malaysian products
10
There should be very little trading or purchasing of goods from other countries unless out of necessity
11
Malaysians should not buy foreign products, because this hurts Malaysian business and causes unemployment
12
Curbs should be put on all products
13
It may cost me in the long run but I prefer to support Malaysian products.
14
Foreigners should not be allowed to put their products on our markets
15
Foreign products should be taxed heavily to reduce their entry to the Malaysian market
16
We should buy from foreign countries only those products that we cannot obtain within our own country
17
Malaysian consumers who purchase products made in other countries are responsible for putting their fellow
Malaysians out of work
Product judgment
1
Products made by US fast-food restaurants are generally very well suited to needs of Malaysian consumers
2
The suitability of products made by US fast-food restaurants to the Malaysian consumers seems to have improved
over the past several years
Products made by US fast-food restaurants occupy very strong competitive position in comparison to the products
3
of other countries
4
Products made by US fast-food restaurants are carefully produced and have a fine taste
5
Product made by US fast-food restaurants are generally of a lower quality than similar products available from
other countries
Over the past several years, the quality of most products made by US fast-food restaurants seem to have
6
improved
Products made by US fast-food restaurants show very high degree of food technological advancement
7
8
Products made by US fast-food restaurants are produced by firms that are more concerned with the outward
appearance of the products than with the food quality
Products made by US fast-food restaurants seem to be more in the nature of luxury items than necessary items
9
Purchase
1
2
3
4
5
action
I chose US fast-food restaurants when similar foreign restaurants were available
I bought from US fast-food restaurant when a better quality foreign restaurant were available
I bought from US fast-food restaurants even though cheaper foreign fast-food restaurants were available
I explicitly recommended to someone else that he/she purchases only from US fast-food restaurants
I criticized someone I know for buying from foreign fast-food restaurant
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