The impact of consumer cosmopolitanism and ethnocentrism on consumer's behaviour of seeking information about the country of origin of products

Companies which compete each other with the goal to properly fulfil customer needs develop their marketing strategies based on many factors such as psychological, economical and socio-cultural factors. Globalisation and technological advancements constitute two factors that play a principal role. Today, in a world where national boundaries are gradually disappearing, consumers can reach products of other countries more easily. However, in spite of all these changes, consumers still assess products with different approaches and tendencies. In particular, attitudes of consumers towards other countries and cultures or their own may affect their behaviour of seeking information about the country of origin while assessing a product. Of course, there are consumers whose attitudes about countries and cultures are not surrounded by strict cultural norms. Cosmopolitanism and ethnocentrism are such concepts that companies need to take into account in terms of how consumers form their purchasing decisions. Therefore, it is possible to say that it is worthwhile to research the relationship between cosmopolitan and ethnocentric tendencies of consumers and their behaviour of seeking information about the country of origin while assessing a product. First step of the study aims to determine the direction of cosmopolitan and ethnocentric tendencies of consumers. Another step of the study is to examine the impact of cosmopolitanism and ethnocentrism levels on the behaviour of seeking information about the country of origin. First part of the study elaborates the concepts that form the basis of the study and the following part incorporates previous studies in this field. Research questions were determined in this regard and tested via variance, correlation and regression analyses. Results of the study indicate that there is no significant difference between consumer cosmopolitanism and the behaviour of seeking information about the country of origin while there is a significant difference between consumer ethnocentrism and the behaviour of seeking information about the country of origin.