Title: Home country image and ethnocentrism among young consumers in a developing country

Authors: Sulhaini

Addresses: Faculty of Economics and Business, The University of Mataram, Mataram, 83125, Lombok, Indonesia

Abstract: This study's main objective is to examine the effect of young consumers' home country image and the level of ethnocentrism on those consumers' behaviour in a developing country, i.e., Indonesia. The literature has primarily explained consumer behaviour towards imported products and the image of the source country. This study measured the home country image using cognitive and affective components. Consumer behaviour was evaluated in fashion and electronic product categories. The empirical findings indicate that the effect of a home country image and consumer ethnocentrism on product belief and willingness to buy is similar for the two product categories. Interestingly, the findings demonstrate that home country image and consumer ethnocentrism have a contrary effect on product belief and willingness to buy. Young consumers in a developing country may still have rational considerations while evaluating products, but they have a willingness to support domestic products and, thus, the domestic economy.

Keywords: home country image; consumer ethnocentrism; product belief; willingness to buy; young consumers; developing countries; consumer behaviour; Indonesia; fashion industry; electronic products; domestic products.

DOI: 10.1504/JGBA.2016.075739

Journal for Global Business Advancement, 2016 Vol.9 No.2, pp.195 - 211

Received: 28 Jan 2015
Accepted: 20 Aug 2015
Published online: 01 Apr 2016 *

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