Acting on Boycott Intentions: A Vietnamese Perspective on the Role of Ethnocentrism, Animosity, and Regionality

Abstract

The international marketing literature has concluded that consumers’ country-focused animosity and ethnocentrism attitudes impact their reluctance to purchase products from a boycotted foreign country. The present study theorizes that, under certain circumstances, animosity and ethnocentrism can play a more complex role than simply affecting boycott intentions. Using a mall-intercept survey of Vietnamese consumers’ perceptions of the border dispute with China, the study reveals that animosity directly triggers boycott behavior among Northern but not Southern Vietnamese, and that ethnocentrism moderates consumers’ motivation to act on their intentions to boycott.

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The international marketing literature has concluded that consumers’ country-focused animosity and ethnocentrism attitudes impact their reluctance to purchase products from a boycotted foreign country. The present study theorizes that, under certain circumstances, animosity and ethnocentrism can play a more complex role than simply affecting boycott intentions. Using a mall-intercept survey of Vietnamese consumers’ perceptions of the border dispute with China, the study reveals that animosity directly triggers boycott behavior among Northern but not Southern Vietnamese, and that ethnocentrism moderates consumers’ motivation to act on their intentions to boycott.