Shopping Behavior, Country Attitudes, and Evaluation of Countries of Origin in China

This article presents the results of a survey of 209 Chinese male consumers. In this study, consumer evaluations and attitude towards products made in industrialized and newly industrialized countries were obtained along with measures of consumer shopping behavior. The results indicate that industrialized countries were perceived as manufacturing products that are more reliable, technologically advanced, stylistic, and costly than newly industrialized countries. A duster analysis using moderating variables related to shopping for refrigerators, cameras, and t shirts revealed that the Chinese respondents could be grouped into four segments identified as Durables Enthusiasts, Duraoles Uninvolved, Inexperienced Shoppers, and Apparels Involved. Country attitudes and evaluations were fairly consistent across the newly industrialized countries but varied for industrialized countries across the four segments. Similar results also emerged from a correlation analysis of made in attitude scales (based on moderating shopping variables) with country evaluations. It was found that Chinese consumers' involvement with durable products was positively related to the evaluation of industrialized countries. Consumers belonging to the Durable Enthusiasts and Apparels Involved segments evaluated industrialized countries more favorably and believed to a greater extent that products made in these countries are reliable, technologically advanced, and stylistic than consumers belonging to the Durables Uninvolved and Inexperienced Shopper segments. Managerial and research implications are derived from these results.