How ethnocentrism help marketers in promoting food products globally?
Answers
Marketers have always been concerned with the influence of the foreignness of a product on consumers' product choices (Balabanis & Siamagka 2017). Shimp and Sharma (1987) introduced the concept of consumer ethnocentrism, adapting it from Sumner's (1906) general concept of ethnocentrism. Consumer ethnocentrism refers to the beliefs of consumers about the appropriateness and morality of purchasing foreign made products (Shimp & Sharma 1987). It is concerned with biases that individuals have towards locally made or locally produced products. Consumer ethnocentrism makes consumers believe in the superiority of locally made products and to believe in the inferiority of foreign made products (Pennanen et al. 2017). Consumers who are ethnocentric view purchasing foreign products as inappropriate. They argue that doing so is unpatriotic, hurts the domestic economy and also results in locals losing their jobs. By contrast, non-ethnocentric consumers are likely to consider the actual product attributes or other emotional associations such as nostalgic attachment to a brand or love for the brand (Chowdhury 2013). Thus, consumer ethnocentrism reflects an individual's sense of identity and motivates the feeling of belongingness. As a result, consumer ethnocentrism informs consumers of acceptable or unacceptable purchase behaviour within a group (Shimp & Sharma 1987).