PurposeThis research seeks to add to the body of research pertaining to animosity by examining the additional roles of anticipated emotions and subjective norms on consumers' purchase intentions regarding foreign products when companies' or governments' actions cause negative repercussions. The paper also examines the role of group responsibility as an antecedent to animosity.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using a snowball sampling technique among undergraduate students from a prominent university in Kuwait. Of the 460 questionnaires received, 13 were eliminated for incompleteness. Sample members were aged 18 and above, and 53.9 percent of the respondents were females.FindingsSubjective norms related to buying Danish products – as well as the negative emotions expected from buying the product and the positive emotions expected from not buying the product – led to less willingness to buy Danish products. In addition, social pressure was found to be the more important factor in consumers' willingness to buy compared to anticipated emotions.Originality/valueThis paper suggests that, in addition to animosity, other factors influence a consumer's decision to withhold consumption. Therefore, managers need to assess the emotions and norms characterized by citizens of the target country to capitalize on such information when marketing their products.

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Skin color affects women’s self-image, a fact that has long been a consequence of racial discrimination and dominance as well as the prevalence of light-skinned models in modern advertisements and other forms of communication. Although not all women aspire to greater whiteness of complexion, this standard has influenced many countries that were once dominated by white invaders. As multiculturalism infuses developed and developing nations, however, these standards may be shifting away from generic and hegemonic visions toward more realistic and varied standards, requiring international marketers to be proactive rather than reactive in their customer engagement practices under the ethical frame of “perfectionism.” To examine this perspective, the authors completed a cross-national qualitative study (in-depth interviews) in India, Egypt, and Ghana, where lightness of skin tone has been a culturally imposed prerequisite for women to be considered (and consider themselves) beautiful. Using customer engagement literature and the ethical perfectionism framework, this study investigates women in these countries who embrace or reject this standard, further contextualizing customer engagement research across international markets. Implications are offered as a way to advance multinational corporations’ development of customer engagement along a mutually beneficial path.

Purpose This paper aims to examine the effect of intercultural accommodation efforts on service quality perceptions among ethnic minority consumers. Specifically, the paper postulates that during an intercultural service encounter, the impact of the service provider’s language and ethnicity on the consumer’s service quality perceptions is moderated by the level of service involvement, consumer acculturation and perceived discrimination, which, in turn, influence purchase intent. Design/methodology/approach A 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design with an online nationwide consumer panel of Hispanic consumers was conducted where 377 participants were randomly assigned to a series of service encounter scenarios in the banking service context to manipulate accommodation efforts (yes vs no) and the level of involvement with the service (high vs low). Findings When such language and ethnicity accommodations were offered, highly acculturated minority consumers regarded the service encounter less favorably than low acculturated minority consumers. Moreover, during low-involvement service encounters, intercultural accommodations positively impacted consumer’s service quality perceptions compared to situations involving high-involvement services. Also, minority consumers with perceptions of past discrimination had less favorable evaluations of the service quality than when such perceptions were nonexistent when intercultural accommodation efforts were made by the service provider. Research limitations/implications The findings add to the sparse literature that examines the effectiveness of intercultural accommodation and focuses on the combined use of service provider’s language and ethnicity as a means to enhance service quality. Practical implications The study delivers cautions for service firms not to generalize the receptivity of intercultural accommodation efforts. Given the increasingly sizable segments of minority customers, this study offers insights for service providers to develop suitable recruitment strategies and training programs when devising effective ethnic targeting strategies. Originality/value This research is among the first to explain why the effect of target marketing is not homogenous by expanding the research on intercultural accommodations toward a new context considering service involvement levels among varied minority consumer groups.

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