Expanding cross-cultural social interaction regardless of whether it is real or virtual makes consumers become interested in different cultures, thereby increasing the number of consumers with positive attitudes toward foreign countries. This study examines the role of consumer affinity-a feeling of sympathy and attachment to a specific foreign country-in cross-cultural consumer decision-making. Specifically, it investigates the conditions that promote or inhibit consumer affinity for foreign product evaluation from the perspective of construal level theory and regulatory focus theory. A series of experiments clarified that when considering the purchase of a foreign product, consumer affinity caused a psychological proximity between the two countries, which could result in a change in consumers' construal level and, therefore, a difference in the effective method of a product appeal (promotion-focused vs. prevention-focused). This psychological mechanism will expand the research on effective communication strategies when marketing products or services globally.

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While consumer cosmopolitanism has become a popular topic in international marketing, little is yet known about the way in which people become consumer cosmopolitans in the first place. This study examines reciprocal relationships among antecedents of cosmopolitan consumers with a global identification (CCGI). Through a combination of C-COSMO and Consumer Localism scale, CCGI were extracted from Japanese students as prospective interviewees. Subsequently, interviews were conducted with twenty theoretically sampled CCGI. Grounded theory approach analysis of the qualitative data revealed the following four categories of antecedent characteristics: Influence of immediate family; Personal international social networks; Education; and Personality, and the following three moderators: Kyōiku mama; Reaffirming national identity; and Adaptation stress. Subsequently the relationship between antecedents and moderators is developed as a transition process to becoming a cosmopolitan consumer. We also specify influence of immediate family as a key antecedent in the transition process, and found cosmopolitanism as a situational identity strategy activated in particular contexts.

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