Consumer ethnocentrism and willingness to buy foreign products: cases of toddler milk powder, pharmaceuticals and fruits

Abstract

The most noticeable consequence of the globalization and commercial liberalization processes is the market-wide presence of foreign products in Vietnam, an agricultural nation which has an economy in transition and a low level of technology. Consumer ethnocentrism, which is a social-psychological factor formed by the concern about adverse consequences of foreign products toward the domestic economy, is considered a non-technical barrier. This study uses CETSCALE (Shimp & Sharma, 1987) to measure the consumer ethnocentrism of Vietnamese consumers and determine the impact of this factor on the product judgment and the willingness to buy foreign products of domestic consumers. The products to be examined include: (1) toddler milk powder, (2) fruits and (3) pharmaceuticals.