Consumer animosity: a literature review and a reconsideration of its measurement

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Consumer animosity has gained considerable attention in international marketing literature as a determinant of foreign product purchase behaviour. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: first, a state-of-the-art review of consumer animosity research is presented and specific issues for future research on consumer animosity are raised. Second, potential problems associated with the measurement of consumer animosity are highlighted and an alternative perspective for operationalizing the construct is proposed. Design/methodology/approach -First, a critical literature review on empirical consumer animosity studies is undertaken. Second, exploratory empirical results are presented, based on unprompted questioning, to identify both targets of animosity by Austrian consumers and underlying reasons for such animosity. Third, a MIMIC model overcoming the shortcomings of the current operationalizations of the consumer animosity construct is proposed. Findings -The exploratory study on Austrian consumers demonstrates that animosity targets of consumers cannot be considered as being given, i.e. consumers differ in their animosity targets, and there may be a number of (different) reasons causing animosity feelings such as economic, political, religious or personal. Originality/value -This paper reveals a set of problematic issues in current consumer animosity research and offers concrete approaches to overcome the latter. In particular, a formative measurement approach consistent with the conceptual definition of the construct is suggested and described.

Exploring the animosity domain and the role of affect in a cross-national context

“…The qualitative pre-studies in these studies do not concern the two-dimensional dichotomy of animosity (Klein, 2002;Shimp et al, 2004). Riefler and Diamantopoulos (2007) challenge the traditional construct domain assumptions of animosity in previous studies. Their exploratory research suggests that the animosity concept also encompasses perceived differences in mentality and perhaps religion in addition to the war and economic animosity dichotomy.…”

“…All empirical studies have specified target countries for animosity. Thus, as pointed out by Riefler and Diamantopoulos (2007), the nature of the conflict is predetermined by the researcher(s). Since most animosity settings are chosen to depict long-lasting hostility the question arises as to whether such old conflicts are perceived by respondents as generating strong reactions, or if more recent, and perhaps more temporary, enmities are felt to be more important (Riefler & Diamantopoulos, 2007).…”

Consumer affinity for foreign countries: Construct development, buying behavior consequences and animosity contrasts

“…Our six remaining categories at this stage included the characteristics of the country that Oberecker et al (2008) termed macro drivers of affinity (lifestyle, scenery, culture, and politics and economics) with the exception of "economics." The "economic" dimension is, however, very important in the animosity literature (Klein et al, 1998;Nes et al, 2012;Riefler & Diamantopoulos, 2007).…”

“…The animosity concept in a marketing context was introduced by Klein et al (1998) and has since been applied in a series of studies, most of which are reviewed in Riefler & Diamantopoulos (2007) and in Nes, Yelkur, & Silkoset (2012). Most of the bi-national studies that followed the Klein et al (1998) study built on one or both of their two animosity dimensions (war animosity and economic animosity).…”

Consumer Animosity Following International Crisis: A Conceptual Framework to Understand Indonesian Consumers’ Attitude towards Australian Products

“…Animosity also refers to remnants of antipathy, or hostility towards a country (Klein et al, 1998;Riefler & Diamantopoulos, 2007). Researchers in marketing have broadly classified animosity into two categories: (i) situational animosity, and (ii) stable animosity.…”