INFLUENCE OF ETHNOCENTRISM ON CONSUMERS' INTENTION TO BUY DOMESTICALLY PRODUCED GOODS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN NORTH CYPRUS

Abstract

Globalisation has resulted in businesses extending their market coverage to include international markets, which has provided customers with an ever-expanding choice of domestic and foreign purchase options. It has thus become critical for marketers to ascertain the perceptions and attitudes of consumers regarding their acceptance of foreign products. The most commonly used instrument for this purpose is the 'Consumer Ethnocentric Tendencies Scale' ('CETSCALE') (Shimp and Sharma 1987), which has been validated in several developed economies, but which has not been applied and validated in many developing economies. The present study addresses this gap by applying 'CETSCALE' among 484 consumers in the developing market of North Cyprus. The study confirms the scale's validity and reliability in the setting of North Cyprus. Consumers' ethnocentrism is shown to be positively related to intention to purchase domestically produced goods. The study also analyses the relationships between certain demographic characteristics and consumers' ethnocentrism. The results, managerial implications, and limitations of the study are discussed in detail.