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Understanding consumer animosity in an international crisis: nature, antecedents, and consequences

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Abstract

The nature, antecedents, and consequences of consumer animosity during the 1997 Asian economic crisis are investigated, based on a large-scale survey of 2000 adult consumers representative of five affected nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand). An animosity model was developed and tested with the US and Japan as target countries. As predicted, stable and situational animosity reduced willingness to buy products from a perceived hostile national entity. Affective evaluations and cognitive judgments were negatively influenced by situational animosity but not by stable animosity. As expected, situational animosity was increased by external attribution, perceived external control, and stable animosity. Implications of these findings are discussed, and directions for future research suggested.

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Notes

  1. Steenkamp and Baumgartner (1998) differentiate between factor covariance and factor variance invariance. Since we do both simultaneously, we use the term “factor invariance” to imply both variance and covariance invariance, as well as invariance in the structural estimates.

  2. Sharma, Mukherjee, Kumar, and Dillon (2005) note that for a model with as few as 24 indicators and a sample size of 200, cutoff CFI values should fall to about 0.85 (or less) and 0.07 to 0.08 for RMSEA. Increased model complexity would suggest lowering the CFI cutoff value and raising the RMSEA cutoff value. Our very complex model, with numerous constraints, exceeds the cutoffs suggested by Sharma et al. (2005).

  3. The constraints released in the metric invariance model remained released in the factor invariance model.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the National University of Singapore for funding this research, and the two anonymous JIBS reviewers and departmental editor David K. Tse for their helpful comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marketing, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore

    Siew Meng Leong, Swee Hoon Ang, Soo Jiuan Tan & Ah Keng Kau

  2. Washington State University, Vancouver, USA

    Joseph A Cote

  3. KDI School of Public Policy and Management, Korea

    Kwon Jung

  4. Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau, China

    Chanthika Pornpitakpan

Authors
  1. Siew Meng Leong
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  2. Joseph A Cote
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  3. Swee Hoon Ang
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  4. Soo Jiuan Tan
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  5. Kwon Jung
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  6. Ah Keng Kau
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  7. Chanthika Pornpitakpan
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Correspondence to Siew Meng Leong.

Additional information

Accepted by David Tse, Departmental Editor, 20th June 2007. This paper has been with the authors for two revisions.

APPENDIX

APPENDIX

CONSTRUCT MEASURES

Stable animosity (average composite reliability=0.66; average variance extracted=0.49)

  1. 1

    America/Japan is a friend of my country only in good times.

  2. 2

    America/Japan has never been fair to my country.

  3. 3

    America/Japan is not reliable.

Situational animosity (average composite reliability=0.84; average variance extracted=0.58)

  1. 1

    I feel upset that the Americans/Japanese caused my friends to lose their jobs during this economic crisis.

  2. 2

    I resent the Americans/Japanese for making my family poorer.

  3. 3

    I find it hard to forgive the Americans/Japanese for exploiting me during this economic crisis.

  4. 4

    The Americans/Japanese have made me feel more insecure now.

  5. 5

    The Americans/Japanese have made me more anxious about my future.

  6. 6

    I am unhappy with the Americans/Japanese as they have gained a lot from this economic crisis.

External attribution (average composite reliability=0.82; average variance extracted=0.66)

  1. 1

    The Americans/Japanese caused my country's current economic problems.

  2. 2

    I blame the American/Japanese government for my country's current economic problems.

  3. 3

    We are poorer now because of what Americans/Japanese business people have done.

  4. 4

    Our currency is worth less now because of a(n) American/Japanese conspiracy.

External control (average composite reliability=0.57; average variance extracted=0.36)

  1. 1

    Whatever the Americans/Japanese do will affect my country's current economic problems.

  2. 2

    American/Japanese business people can solve my country's economic problems.

  3. 3

    The Americans/Japanese could have prevented my country's economic problems from happening.

Cognitive judgment (average composite reliability=0.78; average variance extracted=0.50)

  1. 1

    Products made in America/Japan are carefully produced and have fine workmanship.

  2. 2

    Products made in America/Japan show a very high degree of technological advancement.

  3. 3

    Products made in America/Japan usually show a very clever use of color and design.

  4. 4

    Products made in America/Japan are usually quite reliable and seem to last the desired length of time.

  5. 5

    Products made in America/Japan are usually good value for the money.

Affective evaluation (average composite reliability=0.82; average variance extracted=0.65)

  1. 1

    I dislike American/Japanese products. (Reversed)

  2. 2

    American/Japanese products do not appeal to me. (Reversed)

  3. 3

    I do not trust American/Japanese products. (Reversed)

  4. 4

    I do not favor buying American/Japanese products. (Reversed)

Willingness to buy (average composite reliability=0.73; average variance extracted=0.53)

  1. 1

    I would feel guilty if I bought a(n) American/Japanese product. (Reversed)

  2. 2

    From now on, I am less willing to buy American/Japanese products. (Reversed)

  3. 3

    Whenever possible, I avoid buying American/Japanese products. (Reversed)

  4. 4

    I do not like the idea of owning American/Japanese products. (Reversed)

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Leong, S., Cote, J., Ang, S. et al. Understanding consumer animosity in an international crisis: nature, antecedents, and consequences. J Int Bus Stud 39, 996–1009 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400392

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400392

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