Ethnocentrism at the Coffee Shop Industry: A Study of Starbucks in Developing Countries

Abstract

Numerous studies have identified that ethnocentric consumers prefer buying products produced nationally rather than products from overseas. Nevertheless, this study has been focused on big economies, that’s why its application in developing countries is still scarce, especially if we want to know their relationship with a global and foreign brand that operates in these developing countries. On the other hand, this study has been centralized in products, and that is the reason why the studies in hedonic services are also scarce. The objective of this study is to identify the antecedents and consequences of ethnocentrism in hedonic services by applying the variable to a developing country such as Colombia. Considering the cultural and economic importance of Colombian coffee and, regarding a global brand, foreign and hedonic services like Starbucks. This allows the presentation of a theoretical model that forms the basis of an empirical study with a sample of 305 consumers of Starbucks in Bogotá. Via data analysis with Smart PLS 3.0, it was observed that although the Colombian consumer is ethnocentric, they do possess loyalty towards the cited global brand. These results provide us with implications for the management of international businesses as well as with future research pathways.

Conspicuous Consumption in Emerging Markets: The Case of Starbucks in Colombia as a Global and Sustainable Brand

“…On the other hand, in the study of Areiza-Padilla et al ( 2020 ), it can be observed how companies of foreign origin that offered conspicuous consumption can manage to highlight the patriotism of their local consumers when they managed to diminish the perception of being a foreign brand. This is possible by symbolically nationalizing the brand by highlighting the symbols of the national identity of that local country.…”

“…In their study, Kavak and Gumusluoglu ( 2007 ) concluded that, in groups with a clear family orientation, although there are ethnocentric values in some members of the family, these will not totally oppose the purchase of foreign products, provided that these foreign products enable the family to improve its social status. On the other hand, for Areiza-Padilla et al ( 2020 ), in emerging markets, it is possible that a group can be ethnocentric and, at the same time, consume foreign brands; however, these foreign brands must be very strong and have values of globality, modernity, prestige, and success. From this, the following hypothesis was put forward.…”

“…On the other hand, among the products offered at Starbucks, there is a variety of typical products from Colombia that are only available in that country; in this way, the Colombian consumers can feel like any coffee shop of Colombian origin. In this way, Colombian coffee is highlighted as a symbol of national identity for this country through a foreign brand (Areiza-Padilla et al, 2020 ).…”

Reaching for Customer Centricity—Wine Brand Positioning Configurations

“…Searching online consumer content and related discussions is a powerful tool for the identification of novel ideas and responding to potential problems in brand image [112,113]. The process of branding therefore goes far beyond the consumption value of the offer to include various augmented aspects of consumption, such as emotional, psychological, cultural, and social aspects of consumption [114][115][116][117][118]. These aspects can be uncovered by the methodology deployed in this article, which is deployable both in general social media posts, as well as for brand community members as a they are a rich source of information.…”

Seeing coffee tourism through the lens of coffee consumption: A critical review

“…Consuming as integration suggests that consumption of coffee as an object can be used to articulate personal identities, such as cultural identity (Aguirre, 2017;Areiza-Padilla et al, 2020;Ariffin et al, 2016), social class (Kim & Jang, 2017), and ethics perspectives (Hwang & Kim, 2018).…”