An Assessment of Consumer Ethnocentrism Tendencies Scale among University Students: The case of Turkish and Bosnian Students

Abstract

The process of globalization and liberalization of markets brought new challenges and opportunities for both, local and global businesses. A number of studies explored consumer ethnocentric tendencies by making use of CETSCALE, universally accepted measure of the phenomenon developed by Shimp and Sharma in 1987. The present study aims to explore levels of consumer ethnocentrism among university students studying at the International University of Sarajevo using the quantitative research method utilizing the survey originally developed by Shimp and Sharma consisting of 17 questions for inferential statistics, plus four questions added by the author for descriptive statistics to explain differences arising due to demographic characteristics of respondents, including nationality, gender, age and income level. Research was carried out in cross-sectional timeframe study manner utilizing convenience sampling methodology. The questionnaire responses were collected from 150 respondents; freshmen and postgraduate Turkish and Bosnian students in paper form. The CETSCALE value of 79.60 for Bosnian students compared to 74.22 for Turkish indicates that Bosnian students tend to be slightly more ethnocentric consumers than Turkish. Additionally, value of CETSCALE of 84.37 for postgraduates compared to 74.24 for freshmen indicates positive relationship between level of consumer ethnocentrism and level of education. Comparing results with those obtained by other researchers in developed countries, both Bosnian and Turkish students showed higher levels of consumer ethnocentrism. High preference for domestic products expressed by Bosnian students might be a signal for domestic companies to focus more on this population in terms of adjusting their products and marketing activities.

Key Factors Determining the Ethnocentric Tendencies of Consumers in Serbia

“…On the other hand, Serbs have, on average, low ethnocentric tendencies without any signs of polycentrism, which is expected in the case of consumers with low ethnocentric tendencies, who are, in a way, unicentric or oriented towards Serbian products (Cutura, 2012). Furthermore, regarding the influence of nationality on the level of consumer ethnocentrism, the results of a survey among students in Sarajevo in 2016 indicate that, on average, Bosnian students tend be more ethnocentric consumers than Turkish students (Becic, 2016).…”

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“…Therefore, consumers who display a strong sense of ethnocentrism are at least less interested in the consumption of foreign goods and services, mainly because of a shared belief in the immorality of such behavior and its harmful consequences on the local economy [18]. In general, the level of ethnocentrism is consumer to consumer; within the same country, it can vary from one region to another [13] and even from one country to another [19].…”

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“…Research in several countries regarding ethnocentrism is not always the same because the level of ethnocentrism can vary from one consumer to another, from one region to another within the same country and from one country to another (Becic, 2016). The difference in ethnocentrism is also different in each generation, such as Generation Z, which has a more tolerant attitude towards differences in the surrounding environment.…”