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.
Copyright
The copyright of this thesis is owned by its author. Any reproduction, adaptation, distribution or dissemination of this thesis without express authorization is strictly prohibited.
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