An empirical survey of consumer ethnocentrism in Kazakhstan and the preference of consumers on imported products

Abstract

The reality of globalization declines the frontiers for cross border international trade and investments as well as functions as a means to converge the consumer needs and expectations on a global base. The convergence of the expectations of consumers is considerably beneficial for international businesses in their international marketing activities. However, this issue does not realize in every country or regional market. Yet, consumer ethnocentrism is a profound obstacle for international businesses which emphasis nationalistic sentiments, pride and the rejection of any product or idea that is made in another country without any rationale reasoning. Thus, this study is aimed at researching the subject of consumer ethnocentrism in the Central Asian Turkish Republic of Kazakhstan. The results indicate that there is not a strong relation between ethnocentric perceptions and product necessity in Kazakhstan. Also, sub-dimensions of ethnocentrism have different correlation levels with each imported products. In addition, religious and moral values are not effective factors in explaining the variation in imported products.