Antecedents and consequences of consumer ethnocentrism across Russia's three sub-cultures

Shimp and Sharma (1987) extended the concept of ethnocentrism to commercial products with the development of a 17-item C[barbelow]onsumer Et hnocentrism Scale [CETSCALE]. Consumer ethnocentrism is the belief that purchasing imported products harms the local economy, increases unemployment, and is morally wrong (Skimp and Sharma 1987). Shimp and Sharma (1987) called for studies to determine antecedents to consumer ethnocentrism and to apply the CETSCALE across geographic and regional segments. This dissertation addresses a void in the literature by examining antecedents; Inglehart's Materialism/Post Materialism (1977) and Holbrook's Nostalgia (1993), and outcome variables; product purchase preference, of consumer ethnocentrism across sub-cultures postulated to exist in Russia today. This research considers the Russian market to be multidimensional with parallel, although significantly different, markets. These markets are three co-existing cultures: Traditional Russian Culture, The Industrial Sub-Culture, and The Emerging Technocratic Culture (Mikheyev 1996). These sub-cultures are defined by differing levels of temperament, sociopolitical mentalities, and access to different forms of power (Mikheyev 1996). Structural Equations Modeling and Hierarchical Linear Modeling were used to test ten main hypotheses. In total, five hundred surveys were collected, evenly split among Russia's three sub-cultures. This research contributes to literature by furthering an understanding of the CETSCALE and refining research techniques in Transitional Economies. There are four main contributions. First, this research identifies that although antecedents may appear to be significant throughout an entire nation they actually are significant in select sub-cultures while being insignificant in other sub-cultures. Second, significant differences for product purchase preference (imported versus domestically-produced) exist between various product groups. Third, product purchase preference (imported versus domestically-produced) for product groups differs among sub-cultures throughout Russia. Fourth, the CETSCALE itself differs in its ability to explain product purchase intent for different product groups and among sub-cultures. This research expands the understanding of the CETSCALE by identifying antecedents and linking the predictability power of the CETSCALE to product purchase intent of different product types. In addition, it has also identified that in transitional economies sharp differences exist among sub-cultures regarding the interpretation of various constructs and the strength of the relationships between those constructs.