Author

Chun ZHANG

Date of Award

10-3-2013

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Philosophy (MPHIL)

Department

Marketing and International Business

First Advisor

Dr. POON Shing-chung, Patrick

Abstract

Consumer animosity may have a negative impact on consumers’ purchase behavior for foreign products. The consequences of the negative influence include boycotting and reluctant to purchase. This study explores the research on consumer animosity and focuses on how to attenuate the negative effect of consumer animosity towards consumers’ purchase behavior. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is considered to have a moderating effect on the relationship between consumer animosity and purchase intention. In addition, individual thinking styles are expected to influence the moderating role of CSR. In this study, a 2 (consumer animosity: high vs. low) x 2 (CSR: high vs. low) x 2 (thinking style: holistic vs. analytic) between-subjects factorial design was conducted. Participants were recruited in mainland China. Hypotheses were all supported by the results. The higher the level of CSR, the weaker impact of consumer animosity has on the purchase intention. Furthermore, when the holistic thinking style is dominant, the moderating influence of high (vs. low) CSR on the effect of consumer animosity is stronger. In contrast, when the analytic thinking style is dominant, the moderating influence of high (vs. low) CSR on the effect of consumer animosity is weaker. Managerial implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

Recommended Citation

Zhang, C. (2013). Consumer animosity and purchase behavior: The role of corporate social responsibility (Master's thesis, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from http://commons.ln.edu.hk/mkt_etd/16

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Marketing Commons

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