자민족중심주의 성향이 기업이미지, 브랜드이미지, 구매의도에 미치는 영향

Abstract

This study is to investigate the relationships between consumers' ethnocentric tendencies and corporate image, brand image, and purchase intention. And further to examine whether brand familiarity plays a moderating role in these relationships. Based on the research results presented in the previous research, Korean consumers are examined in the effects of corporate image and brand image on their national products and foreign product purchase intention, respectively. Basically, ethnocentric individuals tend to view their group as superior to others. As such, they view other groups from the perspective of their own, and reject those that are different and accept those that are similar (Netemeyer et al., 1991; Shimp and Sharma, 1987). Consumers may believe that it is not appropriate, and possibly even immoral, to buy products from other countries. Purchasing foreign products may be viewed as improper because it costs domestic jobs and hurts the economy. The purchase of foreign products may even be seen as simply unpatriotic (Klein, 2002; Netemeyer et al., 1991; Sharma, Shimp, and Shin, 1995; Shimp and Sharma, 1987). Consumer ethnocentrism is popular construct in international marketing research and is generally measured using the CETSCALE, a reliable scale with proven predictive validity but with limited evidence about its construct validity, dimensionality and cross-cultural measurement invariance. The survey for this study was conducted during January 10th through March 10th in 2018. 507 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to Korean customers who are living in Seoul and Jeju. The surveyed products were Samsung and LG smartphones in Korea, and iPhone in the United States. After excluding seven copies of missing and unreliable responses, 500 copies questionnaire were used in the research analysis. This study conducted that the survey questionnaires and confirmatory analysis were used for the reliability and validity of the study. SPSS 17 version programs were used for the analysis. Through the verification of previous studies, the dimension of the ethnocentrism was classified into cognitive and emotional centrism. The corporate image was divided into product-centric image and non-product-centric image . A research model was conducted to prove 10 main hypotheses to achieve the research purposes. In this study, we analyzed empirically the characteristics that influence the relationship between ethnocentrism propensity, corporate image, brand image, and purchase intention. Also, We also conducted verification. Based on this, theoretical implications and practical implications are summarized as follows: First, in order to verify the relationship between ethnocentrism and corporate image, the subcategories of ethnocentrism were categorized as cognitive centrism and emotional centrism, and corporate image as product-centric image and non-product image. The results showed that the higher the emotional and ethnocentric tendency, the more favorable the product-centric image of Korean companies. This suggests meaningful implications for the future analysis of the ethnocentrism type as cognitive - centered and emotional - centered. Second, the relationship between ethnocentrism and purchasing intention was found to be significant in relation to emotional centrism and domestic product purchase intention, and it was concluded that consumer ethnocentrism tendency was related to domestic product preference. Respectively. Third, the analysis of the effect of corporate image on purchase intention showed that the hypothesis was supported, which is consistent with previous research. The corporate image is a factor that determines the beliefs and attitudes of the consumers about the specific companies and the strong and clear corporate image increases the confidence in the products of the companies, It is confirmed that there is influence. It is confirmed that there is an influence that raises the possibility of the hawk. Fourth, as a result of analyzing the adjustment effect of brand familiarity in the influence relationship between ethnocentrism and corporate image, it was confirmed that the self - regulation effect of emotional center - This can be interpreted as a factor that strengthens the relationship between domestic brand familiarity and emotional centrism and product - centered image of domestic firms. However, there is no adjustment effect between ethnocentrism and foreign corporate image. This suggests that brand familiarity does not have an impact on the relationship between ethnocentrism and foreign corporate image for Korean consumers, which seems to be related to the progress of globalization. Fifth, as a result of verifying the control effect of brand familiarity between corporate image and purchase intention, it was analyzed that product familiarity between foreign company non - product - centered image and foreign product purchase intention had a moderating effect. This implies that brand familiarity with foreign products strengthens the relationship between the corporate image and the purchase intention of foreign products. A favorable corporate image, which is one of the roles of corporate image, is in accordance with the precedent research that favor the firm's trust, stability, and development, thereby favoring fund procurement and talent acquisition for growth of the company. Sixth, as a result of further analysis of the mean difference in the tendency toward ethnocentrism according to demographic characteristics, gender, age, educational background, occupation and monthly average income are related to ethnocentrism propensity. The reason for analyzing demographic predecessors in previous studies related to ethnocentrism is that it is useful to be used as a market segmentation variable in marketing strategy implementation. Previous research investigating the relationship between gender and consumer ethnocentrism found that women tend to be more ethnocentrism-oriented than consumers (Sharma et al., 1995; Bruning, 1997). This is consistent with our findings. In particular, in this study, the relationship between age and ethnocentrism was highest in ethnocentrism among people aged 60 and over. It is known that young people tend to have a lower consumer ethnocentrism tendency than older adults (Klein et al., 1998). In addition, the relationship between education level and ethnocentrism was highest in college graduates in emotional centralism than in high school graduates in cognitive centricism. In the preceding studies, people with higher education tend to have low ethnic biases(Balabanis et al., 2001) is different from the previous studies. On the other hand, self - employment showed the highest ethnocentric tendency in the analysis of differences according to occupation. In addition, the relationship between education level and ethnocentrism was highest in college graduates in emotional centralism than in high school graduates in cognitive centricism. In the preceding studies, people with higher education tend to have low ethnic biases, (Balabanis et al., 2001) is different from the previous studies. On the other hand, self - employment showed the highest ethnocentric tendency in the analysis of differences according to occupation. First, the cognitive factors that constitute the propensity toward ethnocentrism have no significant relationship in verifying the influence relations between the subsidiary image of the domestic firm and the emotional ethnocentrism propensity has been proved to be significant with the additional image of the domestic firm. Therefore, efforts should be made to enhance corporate image through marketing activities that promote corporate excellence through enhancing corporate CEO image, strengthening corporate social responsibility (CSR), and rational management. Secondly, it was shown that emotional factor and national product brand image have a significant influence on ethnocentric attributes. Therefore, marketers should create positive brand images such as the status of their brands as global brands, quality, and functions suggesting that it should be improved. Third, there is a significant relationship between emotional centrality and intention to purchase products. Therefore, it is necessary to use contents related to emotional centrism items in advertising or marketing activities in order to increase the purchase intention of domestic products. Fourth, as a result of analyzing the adjustment effect of brand familiarity in the influence relationship between ethnocentrism and corporate image, it was confirmed that the self - regulation effect of emotional center - This can be interpreted as a factor that strengthens the relationship between domestic brand familiarity and emotional centrism and product - centered image of domestic firms. However, there is no adjustment effect between ethnocentrism and foreign corporate image. This suggests that brand familiarity does not have an impact on the relationship between ethnocentrism and foreign corporate image for Korean consumers, which seems to be related to the progress of globalization. Fifth, corporate executives and marketers should make efforts to enhance corporate image in order to strengthen the control effect of brand familiarity between corporate image and purchase intention. Corporate image is the personal experience of a specific company, product purchase and use experience, visual contact such as logo and packaging, product advertisement, corporate advertisement, press report and rumor, corporate social responsibility performance and technology innovation, (Yoon, Guffey and Kijewski, 1993; Vos, 1992; Lee, 2015). This study suggests the theoretical and practical implications of the ethnocentrism tendency by firmly exploring the relationship between corporate image, brand image, purchase intention, and brand familiarity, but suggests the following limitations and necessity for future research do. First, the fact that the sample used in the empirical study of this study was limited to the consumers in the specific areas of Seoul and Jeju in Korea may be limited to the generalization of the research results. In particular, there is a lack of comparisons between nationalities of ethnocentrism tendencies such as Chinese consumers, and it is postponed to the next research project. Second, the target product of this study is limited to Korean smartphone (Samsung, LG) and US Apple iPhone. Future studies will require a comparative study of more diverse product types. Third, the present study was conducted with reference to previous studies on the tendency and evaluation of ethnocentrism, but it is necessary to develop a new scale to measure the tendency of ethnocentrism in the process of globalization and informatization, which is to be postponed it to future research project.