Consumer animosity, economic hardship, and normative influence

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 -This paper aims to examine the concept of "consumer animosity", model its antecedents, and assess its influence on intention to purchase. Design/methodology/approach -Survey questionnaires were distributed by a quasi-random sample of school pupils across Taiwan to an adult member of their household, for completion and return. A return rate of 70 percent yielded 456 usable questionnaires, the data from which were analysed by the LISREL structural equation modelling software. Findings -The results suggest that perceived personal economic hardship and the normative influence of members of a consumers' reference group have a positive impact on the phenomenon of consumer animosity, which in turn negatively affects the intentions of consumers in Taiwan to purchase products originating in mainland China and Japan. Contradicting previous studies, consumer animosity was found to be dependent on judgments of product quality.Research limitations/implications -The research model was built from data collected by non-probability sampling in a single country. There was no evidence of sampling bias, but future studies would benefit from inclusion of more independent variables and a wider geographical scope. Practical implications -The findings contain many practical lessons for planners of export marketing strategy. Originality/value -Two existing theories of social behaviour are integrated with the concept of consumer animosity to explain consumption choices in an international context.

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

“…al 1998 which found that animosity has no impact of animosity on product judgments. However a some studies refute this claim, and find animosity does impact evaluations of products from the animosity target (Huang, Phau & Lin, 2010;Leong et al, 2008;Rose et al, 2009;Shoham et al, 2006). All of the above research studies provide strong support for the notion that national animosities caused by war, economic policies, and other conflicts may have a profound impact on consumer buying behavior.…”

“…Published research in this area has also confirmed the impact of animosity for products in general, (Hinck et al, 2004;Huang et al, 2010;Leong et al, 2008;Nakos & Hajidimitriou, 2007;Witkowski, 2000), for specific categories of products (Ettenson & Klein, 2005;Hong & Kang, 2006;Jimenez & Martin, 2010;Klein, 2002;Klein et al,1998;Nijssen & Douglas, 2004;Russell & Russell, 2006;Shimp, Dunn, & Klein, 2004;Shin, 2001;Shoham et al, 2006), and finally for hybrid products with partial shifts in production to animosity targets (Funk et al, 2010). Some studies have tested and established a correlation between the level of animosity and actual product ownership (Klein, 2002;Klein et al, 1998;Shin, 2001).…”

“…Several animosity researchers suggest that social identity theory (Tajfel, 1982;Tajfel & Turner, 1986) is useful in explaining the nature and causes of animosity (Shimp et al, 2004;Shoham et al, 2006;Huang et al, 2010). However, increased understanding of why animosity leads to less buying has long been a missing piece in the puzzle of animosity research.…”

“…Previous studies find that animosity has some impact on various dependent variables, particularly buying intentions (e.g., Bahaee & Pisani, 2009;Funk, Arthurs, Trevino, & Joireman, 2010;Hinck, Cortes, & James, 2004;Hong & Kang, 2006;Huang, Phau, & Lin, 2010;Klein, 2002;Klein et al, 1998;Leong et al, 2008;Maher & Mady, 2010;Nakos & Hajidimitriou, 2007;Nijssen & Douglas, 2004;Parker, Haytko and Hermans 2011;Shin, 2001;Shoham, Davidow, Klein, & Ruvio, 2006;Witkowski, 2000).…”

Examining the Effectiveness of Relationship Marketing Strategies on Medical Tourism

“…Traditional marketing is a strategy that a company uses to determine if it can produce a viable product to meet consumer demand. 31,32,33 It relies on transactional marketing strategy that focuses on single point of sale transactions and the emphasis is generally on maximizing the efficiency and revenue rather than developing and managing customer relationship. 34,35 In this case, a product or service is just seen as a commodity, not a brand name which can be used to distinguish one product or service from its competitors.…”