The Global/Local Product Attribute: Decomposition, Trivialization, and Price Trade-Offs in Emerging and Developed Markets

Abstract

Accelerating antiglobalization challenges previously undisputed assumptions about the importance of a product's globalness/localness in purchase decisions. Putting these assumptions to test, this article conceptualizes globalness/localness as a distinct product attribute and decomposes its utility into weight and preference components. Subsequently, it offers an equity-theory-based prediction of the attribute's declining relevance/trivialization and quantifies its trade-offs with other attributes by calculating global/local price premiums. Conjoint experiments in two countries (Austria and India) reveal that (1) emerging- (developed-) market consumers exhibit relative preference for global (local) products, (2) emerging-market consumers perceive higher preference inequity between global and local products than developed-market consumers, and (3) the corresponding inequity triggers consumers’ cognitive inequity regulation (manifested through attribute trivialization in developed markets) and behavioral inequity regulation (manifested through asymmetrical willingness to pay for global/local products across developed/emerging markets). In addition, attribute trivialization and price premium tolerance are moderated by consumers’ spatial identities and price segment. The findings contribute to the theoretical debate on the relevance of product globalness/localness in deglobalizing times and inform competitive strategies; segmentation, targeting, and positioning; and international pricing decisions.