Proceedings of World Business and Social Science Research Conference
25-25 October, 2013, Novotel Bangkok on Siam Square, Bangkok, Thailand, ISBN: 978-1-922069-33-7
Ethnocentrism and Cosmopolitanism in Consumer
Evaluations of Japanese Brands: Chinese vs. Korean
Consumers
C. Min Han* and Gao Lei**
This study is designed to assess the effects of ethnocentrism and
cosmopolitanism in consumer evaluations of Japanese brands in East Asia.
Specifically the effects will be compared between Chinese and Korean
consumers who are known to have animosity toward Japanese products.
It is hypothesized that Chinese consumers are more ethnocentric and less
cosmopolitan than Korean consumers are. It is because the Koreans with a
higher standard of living are more westernized and individualistic than the
Chinese are. In addition, we hypothesize that ethnocentrism and
cosmopolitanism have greater effects in Chinese consumers’ evaluations
of Japanese brands than in Korean evaluations of Japanese brands since
purchasing foreign products in China is not as widespread as it is in Korea.
Specific hypotheses are as follows:
H1: The Chinese consumers are more ethnocentric than the Korean are
H2: The Korean consumers are more cosmopolitan than the Chinese are.
H3: The effect of consumer ethnocentrism on evaluations of Japanese
brands will be greater in China than in Korea.
H4: The effect of consumer cosmopolitanism on evaluations of Japanese
brands will be greater in China than in Korea.
Surveys were conducted with 161 Chinese and 150 Korean students from
two major universities from Beijing and Seoul. We selected Sony and
Toshiba notebook PCs as the Japanese brands because our respondents
are major consumers of notebook PCs and many local and foreign brands
are available. As for evaluations of Japanese brands, we assessed
consumer perception of quality, attitudes, and purchase intentions.
First, our findings show that Chinese consumers were more ethnocentric
and less cosmopolitan than the Koreans were. In addition,
cosmopolitanism was found to have a significant influence on consumer
evaluations of Japanese brands for both Chinese and Korean consumers,
but the influence was greater with Chinese consumers than with the
Koreans. On the other hand, ethnocentrism did not have significant effects
on evaluations of Japanese brands for both Chinese and Korean
consumers.
Our findings suggest that cosmopolitanism may play a reduced role with
Chinese consumers in the future as they become more cosmopolitan. In
addition, in contrast to the literature, consumer ethnocentrism may be not a
significant factor in Chinese and Korean consumers towards Japanese
brands. Finally, marketing implications are discussed.
Track: Marketing
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*Professor C. Min Han, College of Business, Hanyang University, Sungdong-gu Hangdang-dong 17,
Seoul, Korea, 133-791, Ph: 82-2-2220-1066; Fax 82-2-2291-1066, Email: cmhlab@hanyang.ac.kr
** Graduate student, Hanyang University