Jill Gabrielle Klein

THE ANIMOSITY MODEL OF FOREIGN PRODUCT PURCHASE: AN EMPIRICAL TEST IN THE PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA

The authors provide an initial test of the animosity model of foreign product purchase in the Peoples Republic of China. In contrast to Shimp and Sharmas (1987) CETSCALE, the model predicts that ...

Why We Boycott: Consumer Motivations for Boycott Participation

Although boycotts are increasingly relevant for management decision making, there has been little research of an individual consumers motivation to boycott. Drawing on the helping behavior and boycott literature, the authors take a cost–benefit approach to the decision to boycott and present a conceptualization of motivations for boycott participation. The authors tested their framework during an actual boycott of a multinational firm that was prompted by factory closings. Consumers who viewed the closures as egregious were more likely to boycott the firm, though only a minority did so. Four factors are found to predict boycott participation: the desire to make a difference, the scope for self-enhancement, counterarguments that inhibit boycotting, and the cost to the boycotter of constrained consumption. Furthermore, self-enhancement and constrained consumption are significant moderators of the relationship between the perceived egregiousness of the firms actions and boycott participation. The authors also explore the role of perceptions of others’ participation and discuss implications for marketers, nongovernmental organizations, policymakers, and researchers.

The Boycott Puzzle: Consumer Motivations for Purchase Sacrifice

A boycott is never far from a firms exchanges with its customers. Researchers in marketing need to understand consumer protest behavior, both to aid nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) who wish to organize boycotts, and to assist managers who wish to develop appropriate strategic responses. Boycotts, like many other instances of collective action, are subject to free-rider and small-agent problems: there appears to be little or no motivation for an individual to participate. Yet they assuredly occur. We take an economic and psychological approach to the study of boycotts. Our approach is to develop a typology of motivations for consumer boycotts, to embed these motivations explicitly in a dynamic economic model, and thus to offer explanations for the extent of boycott participation.

Extending the construct of consumer ethnocentrism: When foreign products are preferred

Purpose – This research has the purpose of exploring whether the construct of consumer ethnocentrism extends to contexts in which foreign products are preferred to domestic products.Design/methodology/approach – The study evaluates the psychometric properties of the consumer ethnocentrism scale (CETSCALE) in the transition economies of China and Russia using both student and non‐student samples. A valid and reliable six‐item version of the CETSCALE is developed based on these samples. The refined six‐item scale is then validated through a re‐analysis of Netemeyer et al.s data collected in four developed countries.Findings – Findings show that the scale can be used effectively in these transitional economies. A consistent pattern of support is found for the six‐item CETSCALE across eight samples from six countries.Originality/value – The research provides practicing marketers as well as international researchers with a parsimonious six‐item CETSCALE that can be used in both developed and transition economies.

Animosity on the Home Front: The Intifada in Israel and Its Impact on Consumer Behavior

International animosity significantly affects the purchase of foreign products. However, domestic conflicts are also rampant in many countries, giving rise to similar issues. October 2000 marked the beginning of the second Arab Intifada (uprising) in Israel. In contrast to the first Intifada of the late 1980s and early 1990s, this time, Israeli Arabs joined the Palestinians in violent demonstrations in Israeli locations with large Arab concentrations. This research studies Jewish Israelis’ reactions to Arab Israelis in the context of purchases and consumption of products and services produced or marketed by Arab Israelis. It examines animosity, its antecedents, and its consumption consequences within the large Jewish majority of the population in Israel. The authors find that dogmatism, nationalism, and internationalism affect animosity, which in turn predicts willingness to buy and actual changes in purchase behavior for goods and services produced or marketed by Israeli Arabs. In contrast to previous research, animosity also predicts product judgments.

Negativity in the Evaluation of Political Candidates

Prior research has demonstrated a clear negativity effect (greater weighting of candidate weaknesses compared with strengths) in the evaluation of U.S. presidential candidates in each of the past six elections analyzed. The authors adopt a motivational view and question the robustness of this finding. They reanalyze past National Election Studies data along with new data and conclude that the negativity effect is not universal across voters; it is a robust effect only for voters who dislike the candidate. They argue that previous findings are due to aggregation of data across voters who vary in their motivations.

Consumer ethnocentrism and consumer animosity: antecedents and consequences

Purpose – Consumer ethnocentrism and consumer animosity provide marketing management with two useful concepts to understand the reasons behind consumers’ purchase decisions concerning domestic vs imported products. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents and consequences of animosity and ethnocentrism within a single model, and respondents’ evaluations of a specific product category are solicited. Design/methodology/approach – The study is conducted within an ideal context for the study of consumer animosity: data were collected in Belgrade shortly after the US-led NATO bombings of 1999. The surveys were carried out in person at the interviewees’ home. The sample was part of a regular omnibus panel composed of 270 adult respondents, of which 92.2 percent agreed to participate. Findings – The findings indicate that animosity and consumer ethnocentrism are distinct constructs. Also consistent with previous research, results obtained confirm that each construct has unique antecedents and ...

Rethinking Macro-level Theories of Consumption Research Findings from Nazi Concentration Camps

This research seeks to inform the developing macromarketing theme of restricted consumer behavior. Nazi concentration camps were selected because they provide an extreme example of external control and constraint. Multidisciplinary scholarship is reviewed, with an emphasis on relevance to the understanding of consumer restrictions. A brief description of the qualitative methodology follows, and the results as thematic categories come next. The thematic categories of forced dispossession, survival strategies, reconfiguration of the self, and reemerging into society are used to provide implications for the majority of world citizens who face significant limitations in their lived experiences as consumers. Closing remarks discuss the opportunities such a shift in emphasis may have on the viability of theoretical constructions about consumption.

After All Is Lost: Meeting the Material Needs of Adolescent Disaster Survivors

This research with teenage tsunami survivors finds that adolescents received little support from relief organizations in their desire to replace lost possessions. The authors suggest ways that marketers can help relief organizations identify the material needs of adolescent survivors, as well as the needs of other underserved or vulnerable segments.

Ethical Decision Making and Research Deception in the Behavioral Sciences: An Application of Social Contract Theory

Despite significant ethical advances in recent years, including professional developments in ethical review and codification, research deception continues to be a pervasive practice and contentious focus of debate in the behavioral sciences. Given the disciplines’ generally-stated ethical standards regarding the use of deceptive procedures, researchers have little practical guidance as to their ethical acceptability in specific research contexts. We use social contract theory to identify the conditions under which deception may or may not be morally permissible, and formulate practical recommendations to guide researchers on the ethical employment of deception in behavioral science research.