Consumers’ Emotional Bonds with Foreign Brands: Animosity, Affinity, and Ethnocentrism

Emotions are recognized to be an important factor in the consumer decision-making process. Generally, consumers' motives are not utilitarian but are driven by hedonic benefit expectations. Especially in international markets, negative emotions about foreign countries (i.e. a product's country of origin) might be just as determinative of consumers' decisions. Negative bias about foreign countries can even prevent consumers from wanting to try their products. But if it is recognized that negative feelings about foreign countries are important identifiers of international consumer behavior, recently it has been claimed that positive feelings have a strong or even stronger effect on international consumer behavior. This study therefore aims to investigate the role of negative and positive feelings on international consumer decisions. It examines the influence of consumers' affinity, animosity, and ethnocentrism on foreign product purchase intention, alongside the moderating effect of the lack of alternative domestic products and the mediating effect of the brand image.