The study examined the influence of South African consumers’ attitudes and purchase intention towards Chinese apparel. A survey of South African consumers who had purchase experience of Chinese apparel was conducted to test the hypothesised relationships. Structural equation modelling results indicated that economic animosity and consumer ethnocentrism are negatively related to attitudes towards Chinese apparel and consumer purchase intention. The study revealed a significant, positive relationship between cosmopolitanism, attitudes towards Chinese apparel and consumer purchase intention. In addition, the findings of the study suggest the importance of cosmopolitanism, consumer ethnocentrism and animosity in market segmentation, targeting, positioning and market potential analysis. The study provides managerial implications for the marketing of Chinese apparel in South Africa.
Consumer buying behaviour in domestic and global markets is principally driven by rational and emotional factors (Schnettler et al.
The selection of South Africa as a contextual setting for the study and Chinese apparel as a unit of analysis was informed by a number of factors. With an estimated population of 54 million, South Africa is one of Africa’s economic hubs, representing a significant market for both domestic and foreign products (Besada, Tok & Winters
The dominant perception that prevails among South Africans is that the continued influx of cheap imports from China is deindustrialising South Africa’s textile industry (Edwards & Jenkins
Despite the growth in academic interest in South Africa and China trade relations, research on consumer attitudes towards Chinese products remains low. To date, the majority of studies have mainly focused on South Africa and China’s trade relationship (e.g. Obiorah
Today’s globalised marketplace is inundated with a wide assortment of products of diverse national origins (Nijssen & Douglas
According to Liu et al. (
The concept of ethnocentrism has ancient roots. The pioneering work of Sumner (
The term consumer ethnocentrism was derived from the general principle of ethnocentrism and captures the inherent beliefs of consumers towards foreign-made products (Bandyopadhyay
Apart from ethnocentric perceptions directed to foreign products, the feelings of hostility directed towards the country of origin of imported products have the potential of inducing consumer apathy (Fong, Lee & Du
Consumers who exhibit significant levels of animosity towards a particular country tend to be less likely to purchase products manufactured in that country (Hoffmann, Mai & Smirnova
The market penetration of foreign products also depends on the level of cosmopolitanism in the domestic market (Riefler, Diamantopoulos & Siguaw
From a marketing perspective, consumers with a cosmopolitan orientation are more receptive to foreign consumption values and products of foreign origin (Gao, Andras & Huang
The theory of reasoned action (TRA) has been widely employed to explain the influence of attitude on behavioural intention (Bian & Forsythe
Based on the theoretical perspectives discussed and the research gaps identified, the proposed research model and the posited hypotheses are shown in
Research model 1.
Apart from the posited relationships depicted in research model 1, direct and indirect relationships between the variables under investigation are plausible. Drawing from a study conducted by Parker et al. (
The alternative research model 2 that incorporates the additional paths is shown in
Alternative research model 2.
In international marketing, consumer ethnocentrism, EA and cosmopolitanism are also posited as direct antecedents of CPI (Fong et al.
Alternative Model 3.
The study employed a quantitative approach to verify the hypothesised relationships in South Africa’s import-oriented apparel retail sector. A structured, self-administered questionnaire through a mall-intercept method was utilised. The following steps were followed in the research design:
The target population for the study was South African consumers who have purchase experience of Chinese apparel. The respondents were drawn from the major shopping malls which sell Chinese apparel in the Gauteng Province. The Gauteng Province was considered the ideal setting for the study owing to its status as the economic hub of South Africa and also because it is an emblem of cultural diversity in South Africa. In the absence of the sample frame, the identified shopping malls (survey location) were used as the sampling frame.
To examine South African consumers’ attitudes towards Chinese apparel products, data were collected between March and April 2015 through the use of convenience sampling employing a mall-intercept technique. Using this technique, shoppers were approached and requested to complete a structured self-administered questionnaire. A total of seven major shopping malls that sell Chinese apparel was selected. In total, 500 questionnaires were administered and after accounting for incomplete responses to some parts of the questionnaire, 410 questionnaires were considered valid for analysis. This resulted in a data set adequate for execution of multivariate statistics such as confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) (Pallant
The questionnaire consisted of four sections. Section A solicited demographic information of respondents. Section B solicited information on attitudes towards foreign-made products that included consumer ethnocentrism, EA and cosmopolitanism constructs. The questions in Section B were adapted from validated instruments employed in previous studies conducted by Klein et al. (
The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 23.0 and Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) 23.0 were used for data analysis. The statistical approaches utilised in this study include descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, CFA, correlational analysis and SEM.
The majority of the respondents were women (61%,
The internal consistency of the measurement items was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, the item-to-total values and composite reliability. Internal consistency measures the degree of interrelatedness of measurement items that are designed to measure the same construct (Hair et al.
Reliability and validity measures.
Research construct | Research construct abbreviation | Descriptive statistics | Cronbach’s test | Composite reliability | Average variance extracted | Average square root | Shared variance | Factor loadings | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean | SD | Item-total | α value | |||||||
Consumer ethnocentrism (CE) | CE1 | 3.83 | 0.540 | 0.604 | 0.847 | 0.850 | 0.50 | 0.693 | 0.048 | 0.673 |
CE2 | 0.630 | 0.685 | ||||||||
CE3 | 0.641 | 0.704 | ||||||||
CE4 | 0.614 | 0.672 | ||||||||
CE5 | 0.657 | 0.729 | ||||||||
CE6 | 0.631 | 0.678 | ||||||||
Economic animosity (EA) | EA1 | 3.81 | 0.722 | 0.834 | 0.876 | 0.880 | 0.720 | 0.849 | 0.183 | 0.936 |
EA2 | 0.816 | 0.918 | ||||||||
EA3 | 0.646 | 0.668 | ||||||||
Cosmopolitanism (CO) | CO1 | 3.45 | 0.501 | 0.633 | 0.783 | 0.790 | 0.55 | 0.742 | 0.012 | 0.759 |
CO2 | 0.602 | 0.694 | ||||||||
CO3 | 0.639 | 0.769 | ||||||||
Attitudes towards foreign products (ATT) | ATT1 | 3.52 | 0.550 | 0.652 | 0.789 | 0.790 | 0.65 | 0.806 | 0.086 | 0.865 |
ATT2 | 0.652 | 0.748 | ||||||||
Consumer purchase intention (CPI) | C1 | 2.97 | 0.570 | 0.645 | 0.834 | 0.840 | 0.51 | 0.714 | 0.204 | 0.731 |
C2 | 0.673 | 0.754 | ||||||||
C3 | 0.613 | 0.667 | ||||||||
C4 | 0.691 | 0.800 | ||||||||
C5 | 0.560 | 0.597 |
CE, consumer ethnocentrism; EA, economic animosity; CO, cosmopolitanism; ATT, attitudes towards foreign products; CPI, consumer purchase intention.
Correlations between constructs.
Constructs | CE | EA | CO | ATT | CPI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CE | 1.000 | - | - | - | - |
EA | 0.428 |
1.000 | - | - | - |
CO | 0.072 | 0.078 | 1.000 | - | - |
ATT | −0.220 |
−0.294 |
0.270 |
1.000 | - |
CPI | −0.245 |
−0.217 |
0.111 |
0.452 |
1.000 |
CE, consumer ethnocentrism; EA, economic animosity; CO, cosmopolitanism; ATT, attitudes towards foreign products; CPI, consumer purchase intention.
, Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed);
, correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).
Structural model comparison.
Model fit indices | Model 1 | Model 2 (direct/indirect effects) | Model 3 (direct effects) | Acceptable value | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Absolute fit indices | χ2/df | 2.262 | 3.263 | 3.772 | < 3.00 |
GFI | 0.926 | 0.896 | 0.878 | > 0.90 | |
AGFI | 0.902 | 0.864 | 0.844 | > 0.80 | |
RMSEA | 0.056 | 0.074 | 0.082 | < 0.08 | |
Incremental fit indices | NFI | 0.910 | 0.868 | 0.845 | > 0.90 |
TLI | 0.937 | 0.887 | 0.862 | > 0.90 | |
CFI | 0.947 | 0.904 | 0.881 | > 0.90 | |
IFI | 0.948 | 0.905 | 0.881 | > 0.90 |
GFI, Goodness-of-Fit Index; AGFI, Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit-Index; RMSEA, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation; NFI, Normed Fit Index; TLI, Tucker-Lewis Index; CFI, Comparative Fit Index; IFI, Incremental Fit Index.
The non-parametric Spearman’s correlation analysis was utilised to examine the extent of relationship among the five constructs in the study. The benchmarks suggested by Field (
The fitness of the measurement model was assessed by conducting CFA by means of maximum estimation likelihood method using AMOS version 23.0. The measurement model refers to the relationship between latent variables and manifest variables within a given study (Anderson & Gerbing
The quality of the measurement model was assessed by checking the significance of the item loadings of all the constructs. All items scored factor loadings above the minimum acceptable threshold of 0.50 and as such no items were deleted. The CFA yielded satisfactory fit: chi-square value over degree of freedom (χ2/df) = 2.469, Goodness-of-Fit Index (GFI) = 0.921, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.060, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.940, Incremental Fit Index (IFI) = 0.941 and Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.927. All reported indices are within the recommended thresholds according to the cut-off criteria suggested by Bagozzi and Yi (
The fitness of the posited structural model (model 1) and the competing models (models 2 and 3) were assessed by means of AMOS version 23.0, employing the maximum likelihood estimation. The structural model captures the relationships among the latent variables (Hair et al.
The study employed SEM to verify the posited hypotheses.
Structural equation modelling hypotheses testing results.
Paths | Path coefficients | Standardised estimates | Hypotheses results | |
---|---|---|---|---|
CET→ATT | −0.289 | 0.072 | −4.005 | H1: Supported |
EA →ATT | −0.211 | 0.063 | −3.373 | H2: Supported |
CO→ ATT | 0.484 | 0.082 | 5.884 | H3: Supported |
ATT→CPI | 0.560 | 0.062 | 9.091 | H4: Supported |
CET, consumer ethnocentrism; EA, economic animosity; CO, cosmopolitanism; ATT, attitude towards Chinese apparel; CPI, consumer purchase intention;
The
Respondents participated voluntarily and no incentives were offered.
The study examined the influence of consumer ethnocentrism, EA and cosmopolitanism on South African consumers’ attitudes and purchase intention towards Chinese apparel. It indicated that South African consumers harbour negative yet moderate feelings of ethnocentrism towards Chinese apparel. Based on this result, it can be inferred that South African consumers who participated in the study do not hold extreme feelings of ethnocentrism. An inspection of consumer responses showed that two statements on the consumer ethnocentrism scale: ‘buy South African-made products, keep South Africa working’ and ‘It is not right to purchase foreign products because it puts South Africans out of jobs’ attained the highest, strongly agree (5) rating. This score seems to suggest that preserving employment is upmost in South African consumers when making a purchase decision of Chinese apparel. This result resonates with previous research by Shimp and Sharma (
However, it is important to note that the moderate levels of ethnocentrism could be attributed to diverse cultural orientation that results in multiple consumption cultures (Pentz et al.
In terms of consumer animosity, the results confirmed that South African consumers’ animosity is negatively associated with attitudes towards Chinese apparel. The study also confirmed the existence of a strong positive relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and animosity (
The results also indicated that cosmopolitanism was positively associated with attitudes towards Chinese apparel, consistent with previous studies (Parts & Vida
Lastly, the study showed that the respondents’ attitudes had a positive significant relationship with CPI towards Chinese apparel. This finding supports the TRA’s proposition that attitude is a precursor for behaviour intention (Fishbein & Ajzen
The findings of this study have important implications to Chinese and South African marketing managers. The reported moderate levels of consumer ethnocentrism and animosity could assist South African marketers to engage in marketing communication campaigns that promote South African products. Marketing messages that emphasise the importance of buying South African products to support the economy are more likely to appeal to segments with high levels of ethnocentrism. It is important for Chinese apparel marketers to identity market segments with high levels of hostility towards their products and manage country of origin perceptions. This can be done by emphasising distinctive features of Chinese apparel such as affordability and status that resonate with consumers in developing economies such as South Africa. The Chinese marketers may also use the levels of consumer ethnocentrism and animosity to predict CPIs. Both South African and Chinese marketers could also use consumer ethnocentrism, animosity and cosmopolitanism as additional variables in market segmentation, targeting and positioning as they significantly influence attitudes towards foreign products. On a broader perspective, Chinese marketers may need to develop strategic alliances with South African apparel companies as a way of mitigating ethnocentrism-induced apathy to Chinese apparel. This view is supported by a study by Fong et al. (
This study has inherent limitations, which offer directions for further research. The study was based on one product category (apparel); hence, the findings may not be generalised to other product categories. Thus, future studies may seek to substantiate the results with more product categories such as electronics or furniture. In addition, other factors likely to influence attitudes towards foreign products such as country of origin, demographic variables and acculturation were not included in the research model. Thus, future studies may seek to develop an integrated model that comprehensively assesses attitudes of South African consumers towards Chinese apparel. Future studies may also extend the geographical location of the study in order to have a holistic South African insight of attitudes and purchase intention towards Chinese products. Future research endeavours could also test whether cosmopolitanism reported among South African consumers moderates the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and EA. Notwithstanding these limitations, the findings of the study contribute to the understanding of consumer attitudes and purchase intention towards Chinese apparel in South Africa.
This study has contributed to the understanding of South African consumers’ attitudes and purchase intention towards Chinese apparel. It found that consumer ethnocentrism and EA negatively influence attitudes towards Chinese apparel among consumers in South Africa. The study, however, showed a positive association between cosmopolitanism and attitudes towards Chinese apparel. Based on its findings, consumer ethnocentrism, EA and cosmopolitanism are central in international market segmentation, market potential analysis and formulation of positioning strategies in global markets. However, conventional segmentation variables such as demographics and psychographics still play a crucial role. It would be useful for Chinese marketers to engage in marketing research efforts to understand the underlying causes of consumer animosity towards Chinese apparel.
The authors thank Vaal University of Technology for funding this study.
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
A.M. conceptualised the study, R.M.S. conducted literature review and M.D. conducted data analysis.