Definition of Research Constructs : Consumer Ethnocentrism

Beside a large body research on COO (country of origin) effects, consumer ethnocentrism is another potential research area that influence for consumer perception on foreign products. "Ethnic" refers to cultural heritage, and "centrism" refers to the central starting point, so "ethnocentrism" basically refers to judging other groups from the own group’s cultural point of view (Barger, 2004). The first researcher of the consumer ethnocentrism, Sumner (1906), defined that ethnocentrism is in the term of ways of superiority thinking of one’s own group (in group) and inferiority of other groups (out groups). Most of the researchers such as Shimp and Sharma (1987); Klein, et al. (1998); Herche (1992); and Netemeyer, et al. (1991) conducted the studies on consumer ethnocentrism by examining the relationships between consumer ethnocentrism and beliefs, attitudes, and foreign made product purchasing intentions. However, the interaction among COO, consumer ethnocentrism, brand image, and other related variables on consumers’ perceptions still not be widely known (Chao, 1993 & Yagci, 2001).

During the decade of 1980s, Shimp and Sharma (1987) developed a construct of consumer ethnocentrism about the purchasing foreign made products versus American made products with 17-Iterm SETSCALE. They revealed that consumer ethnocentrism represents to the consumers’ beliefs about the appropriateness and morality of buying imported products. Orth and Firbasová (2003) employed county of origin, consumer ethnocentrism, involvement, age, and purchase behavior as independent variables to indicate a dependent variable—consumers’ products preference. The 17-question CETSCALE were used to question on product class involvement, favorite yogurt, age, shopping frequency, and shopping volume in order to determine each participant’s level of ethnic consumers. The reliability estimates for ethnocentrism measures and its’ factor loadings are addressed.

With employing the multi-cue models, this study indicated the ethnocentrism as a significant factor to predict the COO (country of origin) effects. The finding was also suggested that consumer ethnocentrism was a strong and significant factor to predict the consumer product evaluations (Orth and Firbasová, 2003).