Analyzing the Antecedents and Consequences of Consumer Ethnocentrism Amongst Russian Food Consumers

Abstract

Consumer ethnocentrism has interested consumer research scholars for several decades. The concept has been applied in several different cultures and research contexts such as automobile industry, food and service markets. This paper aims at studying the antecedents and consequences of consumer ethnocentrism amongst Russian food consumers; three hypotheses are formulated and tested among consumers in St. Petersburg. The results of the study reveal that consumers’ characteristics do not affect Russian consumers’ ethnocentrism even though past research suggests otherwise. In terms of consequences of consumer ethnocentrism, the results show that the level of ethnocentrism affects 1) how Russian consumers evaluate the quality of foreign food products, 2) how well they know foreign food products and 3) how they prefer domestic food products that differ in terms of level of processing. The managerial and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.