The impact of consumer animosity on attitudes towards foreign goods: A study of Jewish and Arab Israelis

Purpose: This paper aims to highlight the importance of examining sub-cultural attitudes when assessing the animosity of individuals from one nation toward the products of other nations. Design/methodology/approach: The context chosen, Arab and Jewish Israelis' attitudes toward the UK and Italy, provides a strong setting to test the influence of animosity on product judgments and willingness to purchase products from these nations. Attitudes toward British and Italian products were collected in shopping malls and community centers in middle class neighborhoods in Northern Israel. A total of 112 Arab Israeli and 111 Jewish Israeli consumers were sampled. Findings: Both animosity and consumer ethnocentrism led to a decreased willingness to purchase a nation's products. Arab Israelis felt more animosity toward the UK than Jewish Israelis, which negatively impacted their product judgments of British products. Originality/value: Previous research on the impact of animosity on foreign products has generally looked at nations as a whole, examined contexts where animosity was fairly distant (e.g. Chinese animosity toward Japan from the second world war), and found that animosity does not affect product judgments. The paper examines a more immediate context (current attitudes among Arab and Jewish Israelis), highlights the importance of considering subcultures when studying animosity, and finds that animosity can and does affect the product judgments of foreign products when felt animosity is strong.