Consumer Perception of the Korean Economic Crisis in 1998: Impacts on Purchase Behaviors of Foreign Products

소비자의 경제위기의식과 애국심이 외제품 구매행동에 미치는 영향: 1998년 우리 나라 경제위기 상황을 중심으로

Economic crisis in Korea since December 1997 had tremendously affected consumer behavior. This study examined consumer perception of the economic crisis and investigated its impacts on consumer ethnocentrism and purchase behaviors of foreign products. Two product categories of clothing and cosmetics were selected fro empirical testing. Data were obtained from a questionnaire survey to female consumers in Korea during September 1998, and 468 responses were analyzed. The consumer perception of the economic crisis(PCEP) scale was developed for the study. Correlation and regression analyses revealed: 1) the positive relationship between PCEP and consumer ethnocentrism(ETHN); 2) the positive effects of attitude toward foreign products(ATTI) on actual purchase of foreign products since the economic crisis(PB) and on purchase intention of foreign products(PI) for both clothing and cosmetics; 3) the negative effect of ETHN on PI for both product categories; and 4) the negative effects of PCEP on PB and PI for clothing.