Developing a model for the boycotting of buying foreign products by considering the mediating role of consumer animosity

One of the most important problems in the Iranian society is the tendency to consume foreign products. Neglecting the internal products and the prevalence of foreign products causes a vast irrecoverable damage to the economic structure of the country. In this situation, the effect of a boycott on buying foreign products is one of the alternatives for protecting the national economy. The purpose of this boycott is to preserve national wealth and prevent the outflow of currency. Consumer ethnicity is one of the important reasons for banning foreign products consumption. Religiosity affects consumers' willingness to boycott the purchase of certain foreign products, which can be due to consumer animosity. Consumer animosity is related to individuals’ negative feelings toward a specific country’s product. Consumer animosity bans the desire to buy products from foreign countries. It has attracted considerable attention in international marketing literature as a determinant for foreign product purchase behavior. The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to boycott foreign product considering the mediating role of consumer animosity.

This research is applied in terms of purpose and has been conducted using in-depth and semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire. At first, the thematic analysis technique was applied to design a model with a qualitative approach, and then the model was assessed using a quantitative approach. The statistical population of this study consisted of the citizens of Tehran, Qom and Sirjan. The data were collected using a semi-structured interview with 16 selected through the snowball sampling method. In the quantitative stage, the statistical population consisted of consumers who had boycotted foreign products at least for one time. At this stage, 396 people were selected according to Morgan table and the available sampling method. The data collection in the qualitative exploratory stage was done through interviews and in the quantitative stage through the researcher-made questionnaire. This questionnaire consisted of 48 questions on theoretical and experimental aspects of five common concepts related to the synergistic factor of sanctions. They included marketing mix with five questions, cultural factors with six questions, ethnicity with eight questions, country image with four questions and political factors with five questions and three common concepts related to the factor of consumer hostility, including religious factors with four questions, nationalism with six questions and normative influence with ten questions. The validity of the questionnaire was reviewed by five experts and faculty members. After the adjustments, the validity of the questionnaire was confirmed. Cronbach's alpha method was used to evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire. The Cronbach's alpha value was 0.946, which indicates the appropriateness of the reliability of the questionnaire. The quantitative part of modeling was assessed using structural equations via the Amos software.

The effective factors on boycotting buying foreign products are classified in eight concepts and two categories. The first category includes marketing mix, political factor, ethnocentrism, country image, and cultural factor which are classified in a boycott synergy category. It has a significant relationship with the boycott of foreign products. The second category consists of religious factor, nationalism, and normative influence which are classified into consumer animosity categories with significant relationships to the boycott of foreign products. The results show that the existence of the mediating variable "consumer animosity" intensifies the effect of "synergy of boycotts" on "boycotts on the purchase of foreign products". Therefore, by identifying and focusing on the tools that incite consumer animosity for foreign products, the consumption of foreign products reduces, which can encourage domestic consumers to buy domestic products. Meanwhile, by increasing the consumption of domestic products, we can expect to increase the production procedure, and thus create sustainable employment. If the ground is set for boycotting foreign products, and focus is placed on the strategy of consumer animosity, while encouraging producers to produce similar foreign products, the possibility of export development and consequently sustainable economic development increases.

There are many reasons for consumer boycott, such as environmental concerns, foreign policy or religious reasons. Based on the result of this research, however, the indirect effects of boycott synergy via consumer animosity lead to increased boycott of buying foreign products. Ethnocentrism affects the power of purchasing, and marketers need to generate stronger local connections between ethnocentrism and their products. Appropriate advertisements by government and domestic companies to support the domestic production can be effective. The government can persuade people to boycott foreign products by recalling foreign military conflicts and its consequences for Iranians (mass killing of people, destruction of the environment, etc.). Due to the influence of religious factors on the boycott of foreign products, it is recommended that the marketers of domestic companies provide the necessary information for the consumers that their products are Halal.