Abstract

Globalization has resulted in the proliferation of foreign goods worldwide, thus saturating consumer markets with substitutable products and increasing the competitive landscape for marketers. This study attempts to provide an empirically testable, integrative model containing the majorantecedents influencing the consumer’s willingness to buy these foreign goods. A sample of 800 adults from the United States was surveyed through a consumer panelto represent the broad composition of U.S. consumers. Structural equations modeling is used to assess the fit of the proposed model and provide the explanatory strengths of each predictor while in the presence of the other primary determinants in the model. The study suggests that consumer ethnocentrism, animosity, andcounty-or-origin image affect different stages of the process used by consumers to evaluate and form attitudes toward foreign goods. These evaluations and attitudes eventually lead to purchase intention, which is indicative of the consumer’s purchase behavior at a later time. The findings support the proposed relationships in this baseline model and suggest that key country-related variables differ with regards to where they exert significant influence within the baseline model. Country-of-origin image is shown to influence the evaluation and attitude formation stages, while consumer ethnocentrism and animosity affects the consumers’ willingness to buy foreign goods. Market entry and promotional strategies can be utilized to control these country-related effects if the marketer is aware of their influence upon foreign product purchases.

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