Do Self-Reliance and Patriotism Influence Indian Consumer Unwillingness to Buy Chinese Products? The Role of Consumer Animosity

The primary purpose is to examine the role of consumer animosity as a prime paradigm in the relationship between self-reliance, patriotism, ethnocentrism, and religiosity of Indian consumers and their unwillingness to buy Chinese-made products. Using AMOS and SPSS Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), data from a convenience sample of 315 Indian consumers were used to test the proposed models. The results suggested that the impact of self-reliance, ethnocentrism, and religiosity on consumer animosity plays an essential role in consumer unwillingness to buy Chinese-made products. Consumer product knowledge moderated the relationship between animosity and unwillingness to buy. Based on these findings, potential managerial actions to account for consumer animosity can be suggested. The current study emphasizes that patriotism exerts the most decisive impact on consumer animosity, followed by self-reliance, making these prime strategic choices for managerial action. While consumer animosity has received attention in the literature, the self-reliance and religiosity of Indian consumers as drivers of animosity have not been tested before. This is important as it demonstrates possible strategic options for managers to pursue. Moreover, within our study’s context, Indian consumers’ unwillingness to buy Chinese products is a crucial issue as these countries are among the largest economies in the world.