A Study on Consumer Ethnocentrism in Hungary – References for the Hungarian Food Economy

Szakály, Zoltán – Balogh, Péter – Csatáriné Dogi, Ilona – Polereczki, Zsolt

Keywords: CETSCALE , ethnocentrism, factor analysis, cluster analysis, consumer behaviour, Q13

Our research deals with the analysis of consumer behaviour of Hungarian products, including agricultural and food industrial products. Our aim is to make recommendations for the positioning of Hungarian agricultural and food industrial products using a generally accepted international scale (CETSCALE, 1-7, Likert-scale). An important part of our study is to analyse background variables and dimensions that influence ethnocentric emotions. This study was aided by the data from a nationwide, representative consumer survey carried out in 2014. The results of our study show the actual potential consumers of the Hungarian products (among them food products).
Based on the results, two factors were separated. The first factor is mostly dominated by protectionist and conservative sentiments, while the second factor is mainly characterised by a patriotic way of thinking. These two factors were used to form three clusters. The characters of the clusters are as follows: The opinion of the members of the first cluster (“Patriots”) is not uniform, but they do have patriotic emotions, since it is important to them to buy Hungarian products, but at the same time they disagree with the ban of foreign products from the Hungarian market. The members of the second cluster (“Young cosmopolitans”) agree with the CETSCALE statements the least. They are more likely to be open to the products of other countries, since they represent a younger age group. They travel abroad more often than the members of the two other clusters and their way of thinking is the most cosmopolitan. The members of the third cluster (“Elderly nationalists”) agree with the CETSCALE statements the most. They mostly belong to the age group of over 60, and they travel abroad more rarely.
If the aim is to improve the competitiveness of Hungarian products, then it is recommended to aim at new consumer groups along with keeping the present target groups. It is possible to increase the interest of the younger generation with a more modern appearance and novel solutions.

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