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A first objective is to add insight into how constructs of ethnocentrism, xenocentrism and cosmopolitanism relate to each other. Knowledge of how these constructs overlap or work together in affecting consumer preferences will offer global marketers insights for designing appropriate marketing strategies. The second objective is to extend this knowledge by examining the correspondence of these three constructs to a nomological network of dispositional concepts pertinent for product positioning and market segmentation. The third objective is to empirically examine the extent to which the measures, construct structure and associative relationships are robust in different national research settings. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Surveying British and American consumers, this study examines and analyzes the correspondence of these identity-relevant constructs within a nomological net of pertinent concepts: consciousness-of-kind, global consumption orientation, materialism and natural environment concern.

The hypothesized negative links between CET-XEN and CET-COS, and the predicted positive connection between XEN-COS were all confirmed on the latent factor results for the combined data set. The negative correlation between CET-XEN was of a considerably lower magnitude than that for CET-COS.

To date, no research has used an identity theory framework and simultaneously examined in a cross-cultural context the interrelationships of consumer ethnocentrism consumer xenocentrism and cosmopolitanism – and their differentiating linkages to a multiplicity of consumer dispositions.

This paper aims to develop a model that explains the moral bases of consumer ethnocentrism and consumer cosmopolitanism as purchase dispositions. The authors build their work on moral foundations theory and the social theories of Emile Durkheim.

Theory-building from general theories of motivation is grounded in cultural norms, and empirical research is conducted to test theoretical propositions.

The focus is on the theoretical implications of binding or individualism morals of consumers within social groups. Consequently, variables in the model relate to ethical themes of community, autonomy and divinity. This theory posits that, for a variety of considerations, loyalty has a direct and positive effect on consumer ethnocentrism and on consumer cosmopolitanism. Serendipitously, other moral foundations have negative effects. The authors theorize that negative relationships exist between authority and consumer cosmopolitanism, and between sanctity and consumer ethnocentrism. This model also illustrates that consumer ethnocentrism positively predisposes favorable domestic product judgments.

New ethical factors in consumer dispositions affecting product purchase decisions are explored. Hypotheses can be empirically replicated and moderated in future research.

Marketers can use the variables of personal values, moral foundations and gender role identity to fashion marketing communications and to target selective consumer segments.

The persuasion process of social marketing will be enhanced by understanding relevant motives.

The use of the fine-grained moral foundation antecedents to predict consumer predispositions of ethnocentrism and cosmopolitanism is without precedent.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which personal values, moral foundations and gender-role identities affect, in sequence, consumers' constructions of their ethnocentric and cosmopolitan orientations. Achieving a better understanding of the psychological makeup of consumer ethnocentrism and cosmopolitanism should help managers better design international market segmentation and brand positioning strategies.

The study's conceptual framework is anchored in attitude and values theories, and focuses on the social categorizations that consumers make and how these contribute to the formation of their ethnocentric and cosmopolitan orientations. Drawing data from consumers living in five European countries, we test our theoretical conjectures through structural equation modeling approaches, including multigroup analysis at the country level, as well as the identification and scrutiny of potential pan-European consumer segments.

Findings show that personal values, moral foundations and gender-role identities do exert direct and indirect (partially mediated) effects on the formation of consumers' ethnocentric and cosmopolitan orientations. These provide numerous insights for managers in terms of how they can segment domestic and international markets, as well as how to position products and communicate brand strategies.

The study focused on consumers' personal and role identities and offers implications based on data gathered from a sample of five European countries. Future work should broaden this perspective by including other identity facets, such as religious and ethnic identities, as well as product-category and brand-specific outcomes, in order to help develop a more comprehensive picture of the psychology underpinning consumers' identity-related orientations, and their effects on consumer behavior. Future research should also study these issues in a broader geographical context, by including national markets that have culturally diverse populations as well as places with dissimilar cultural and economic profiles.

The study shows that individuals' personal values, moral foundations and gender roles have a strong effect on the formation of consumer ethnocentrism and consumer cosmopolitanism orientations. Consideration of how these antecedent constructs operate in concert to shape consumers' in- versus out-group orientations has been overlooked in the international marketing literature. Beyond the ramifications for theory, the study offers numerous substantive managerial implications in terms of how consumers are likely to respond to local and global/foreign products/brands based on these orientations.

Compares business use of the Internet (Net) and World Wide Web (Web) across Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The reported inter‐country comparison involves studies conducted by the authors in a similar timeframe and using similar methodologies. Finds both similarities and differences across the three countries in how business uses the Web with UK firms more likely to be seeking strategic advantage from use of the Internet. In all countries, business use of the Web involves marketing communication; however, use of the Internet as a marketing channel for transactions is much lower. UK firms are more likely to use the Internet in relationship management than are Australasian firms. Concludes that there is less sophisticated business use of the Internet by Australasian companies relative to UK companies. Further concludes that there is a need for further research to resolve the conundrum facing marketing organisations in all three countries.

Research on the behavioural aspects of buyer‐seller relationships, although sizeable, is too heterogeneous and fragmented to yield complete and conclusive insights as to the inter‐relationships of the basic parameters involved. This article attempts to put together extant knowledge on the subject under an integrated conceptual model comprising ten key behavioural constructs.

A total of 24 theoretically‐anchored hypotheses are developed, indicating possible positive or negative associations among the constructs of the model. Based on input received from 122 producers of industrial goods, the proposed model is empirically tested using structural equation modelling.

Of the hypothesized associations examined, 16 were found to be statistically significant and in the right direction, two were significant but in the opposite direction, while the remaining six were not validated. The results confirm most of the findings of previous research on the subject, while some fresh insights on the interrelationships of the constructs used are also revealed.

The results of the study have serious implications for industrial marketers, organizational buyers, management consultants, and business educators, who may use the empirically tested model as a diagnostic and monitoring tool in guiding business relationships in the proper direction.

The article concludes that an integrative approach to studying the behavioural aspects of industrial buyer‐seller relationships can provide a more realistic understanding of the constructs at work, compared with a partial one which may conceal some of the effects of one construct over others and/or show misleading associations among constructs.

This paper aims to discuss the profiles of Korean chaebols involved in global electronics

The research was conducted among 132 of their Korean suppliers, with linked in‐depth interviews with chaebol managers. From an initial set of literature‐based variables, factor analysis is used to generate six chaebol characteristics, which are then correlated with four chaebol‐supplier relationship outcomes.

“Decision making” and “social exchange”, in particular, are found to correlate positively with all four chaebol‐supplier relationship outcome measures, relationship satisfaction, performance, cooperation and conflict resolution. “Partnership” is associated positively with three of these outcomes, and “strategy‐longevity” with relationship satisfaction. The chaebols' “structure‐control” and “leadership” are not found to be predictors of successful relationship outcomes as measured in this study. A combination of higher quality, lower cost products with linkages to a foundation of decision making, social exchange, partnership and strategy‐longevity appears to be a potent mix for global players.

The paper provides the underpinnings of the marketing strategy and component strategy profiles of a number of major Korean multinationals in the belief that they would inform western relationship marketing strategies.

Consumer scepticism about the credibility of green advertising around the world is growing. The article aims to provide a comprehensive assessment and trend analysis of green advertising practices of international firms over a 20‐year period.

The study identifies 473 international green advertisements during the 1988‐2007 period and content‐analyses them on five major axes: advertiser profile, targeting features, message aspects, copy characteristics, and situation points.

The content analysis reveals significant trends in all major areas examined and identifies important interaction effects between certain dimensions of green advertisements.

The findings could be augmented by combining them with changes in the external environment, input from consumers about advertising effectiveness, the views of advertisers and advertising agencies, and secondary data referring to the performance of the specific company/product advertised.

Green advertising research mainly focuses on domestic rather than international advertisements; examines important issues in isolation from other issues; partially analyses message, copy, and situation characteristics; and covers a short period. This study fills these gaps by systematically evaluating international green advertisements over a long period and using an integrated framework of analysis that is based on the extant literature. It also explores potential interaction effects between key dimensions describing these advertisements.

Although exporting can offer many benefits to smaller manufacturers, a large number of these firms refrain from export operations as a result of insufficient stimulation. This paper seeks to critically analyse and creatively synthesise the reasons that may stimulate a smaller firm to export, based on a review of 32 empirical studies conducted in various parts of the world during the period 1974‐2005.

A total of 40 export stimuli were systematically identified from the extant empirical literature, which, for analytical purposes, were divided into internal and external, as well as proactive and reactive. Within each study, stimuli were ranked in terms of their importance, frequency, or intensity, and the aggregate impact of each stimulus in all studies under review was evaluated.

The review revealed that export stimulation stems from a variety of factors, and may vary according to time, spatial, and industry contexts. Irrespective of contextual factors, there are certain motives that systematically play a key role in encouraging smaller firms to export, such as the desire to achieve extra sales, profits, and growth, utilise better idle production capacity, exploit a unique/patented product, avoid the threats of a saturated domestic market, reduce home market dependence, and respond to unsolicited orders from abroad. Some of these motives may lead to an opportunistic approach to exporting, while others denote deliberate export adoption. It was also shown that, although there are numerous other stimulating factors, with a lower impact on exporting, these should not be underestimated because their role may increase under certain conditions or become complementary to export stimuli with a stronger impact.

The findings of the study have serious implications for both public and company policy makers. Policy makers may use this insightful analysis of export stimulation as a guide to developing proper export promotion programmes and sound export marketing strategies.

The paper offers a comprehensive review and synthesis of all factors with a possible stimulating effect on exporting; evaluates the aggregate effect of each factor, as collectively derived from all empirical studies conducted on the subject; and provides an in‐depth analysis of the nature and the stimulating mechanism of each factor.

The article aims to identify differences in consumers' evaluations of goods made in either the USA or China at different levels of analysis; to trace variations in consumers' evaluations with regard to various cues characterizing US or Chinese goods; and to provide a comparison of consumers' evaluations between US and Chinese goods at different levels of analysis and across different product cues.

The study builds hypotheses that correspond to each of the three research objectives. Information was received through personal interviews from a sample of 404 British consumers, aged 18 years and above. Respondents were randomly selected at central locations using a systematic stratified procedure. Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire, with questions focusing separately on the USA and China, at five different levels of analysis, and in six different categories of product cues. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the reliability and validity of the scales were found to be satisfactory. The hypotheses were tested using either student‐t or ANOVA statistics.

The results provide support to all three hypotheses, revealing that there are significant differences in consumer evaluations across the various levels of analysis, caused mainly by the brand, which overshadows country‐of‐origin effects in the case of the USA, but emphasizes these effects in that of Chinese goods.

The results of the study have serious implications for corporate and public policy‐makers, especially for the countries involved in the analysis. These implications should be seen within the context of various geographical, product, time, and other limitations, which provide the basis for undertaking future research on the subject.

As opposed to extant research on country‐of‐origin effects, the study offers a multi‐level and multi‐cue comparison for products manufactured by two major actors in the international trade arena (USA and China), as these are perceived by consumers living in an important developed market (the UK).

Against the background of mounting criticism of the country‐of‐origin (COO) construct, the purpose of this paper is to empirically contrast two competing perspectives of the potential influence of country‐of origin image (COI) on purchase intentions.

Based on personal interviews with over 300 UK consumers, the paper investigates the relative impact of COI and brand image as independent drivers (“orthogonality” perspective), and as causally‐linked drivers (“irradiation” perspective) on consumers’ intentions to buy specific US and Chinese brands.

Controlling for the effects of brand familiarity, the analysis shows that COI impacts purchase intentions indirectly in that its influence is fully mediated by brand image. These findings are consistent with an “irradiation” perspective of COI effects and demonstrate that brand image evaluations already encapsulate consumers’ COI perceptions.

Based on the country/brand combinations investigated, the results show that the recent criticism against the COO construct is largely unfounded and that the construct remains relevant to international marketing theory and practice.

COO remains a relevant and powerful influence on brand perceptions and, through them, on buying intentions and needs to be carefully managed by companies.

The paper provides explicit empirical comparison of alternative models depicting potential COO influence on behavioural outcomes (brand image evaluations and purchase intentions) in distinct country/brand combinations.