Dynamics of the Slovak Consumer Behaviour in the Context of Ethnocentrism: Managerial Implications

Abstract

Every company tries to sell its production on the market and has to face the activities of competitors. Various concepts are used to succeed. One of them is the concept of ethnocentrism. Here, it is assumed that the consumer will prefer local production for various reasons. Various studies are devoted to creating and cultivating the consumer's relationship with local products, on which we base this article. The article presents findings from two representative surveys conducted in 2013 and 2020. The respondents were Slovak consumers and the sample was selected using stratified deliberate sampling. There were 1,030 respondents in 2013 and 1,000 in 2020. Respondents were asked the same questions, which guaranteed the comparability of results. The dynamics of consumer behaviour is measured by comparing selected demographic variables of respondents for individual years of research on the topic of consumer behaviour. We focused on three key areas: willingness to pay more for Slovak products, importance to buy Slovak products and whether the Slovak consumer is aware of support Slovak economy, when buying Slovak products.Using the chi-square test, the relationships between demographic variables and consumer behaviour were determined. Subsequently, consumer segmentation was developed using cluster analysis in the range of tested variables for 2020. Four segments were identified and described in detail. The common denominator of the findings is the fact that Slovak consumers are generally not willing to pay extra for a local product, but a significant majority are aware that by supporting Slovak products they support the national economy. About half of the respondents consider it is important to behave ethnocentrically in their shopping behaviour. At the end of the article, the managerial implications for customer relationship management from the perspective of the government, retailers, customer associations and businesses are formulated.