The Role of Ethnocentrism in Consumer Decisions

Mucha, László – Kovács, Ildikó – Oravecz, Titanilla – Totth, Gedeon

Keywords: consumer ethnocentrism, CETSCALE, CSSC, trademark preference, certification mark, Q13

The study examines the factors influencing ethnocentric consumer behavior in Hungary, the components and the relationship between the factors related to the consumption of food products. An examination of factors related to the demographic influencing consumer ethnocentrism has confirmed study results, which fond correlation between higher agreement with CETSCALE statements and decreasing education level.
The results of the study show that, respondents who lived in small settlements (villages and the smaller towns) were more concerned about ethnocentric purchasing decisions. Roughly half of the respondents living in the capital are considered to be the least ethnocentric consumers. By using the Consumer’s Spending Self-Control (CSSC) scale with 10 statements, we examined purchasing and financial habits. When examining the attitude towards domestic food products, we focused on the preference of Hungarian food trademarks. The results showed a moderate uphill correlation between purchasing preference for brands using trademarks and consumer ethnocentrism as measured by CETSCALE. Based on the results of a factor analysis to reveal common elements of consumer attitudes, the CETSCALE is one-dimensional in case of Hungary.

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