Consumer Ethnocentrism on the Purchase of Milk Powder: A Comparative Study Between Foreign and Local Brand in Mullaitivu District

Abstract

Consumer Ethnocentrism has a huge impact on consumption of domestic and foreign manufactures goods. Previous research witnessed that Consumer Ethnocentrism affects the consumers’ decision of whether to buy domestic or foreign made products. The purpose of this study is to examine that how far the consumers embrace Ethnocentrism towards the consumption of Milk Powder in Mullaitivu District since milk powder is the most widely used dairy product in Sri Lanka. This paper also investigates the factors influencing the Consumer Ethnocentrism towards the consumption of Milk Powder. A mixed method approach has been adopted and the data were gathered by using the questionnaire survey and the personal interview method. Researchers used Descriptive Statistics under the quantitative data analysis and Interpretative Analysis under the qualitative research method. The sample size was 60 consumers by using Judgmental sampling method to select 30 Anchor consumers and 30 Nespray consumers among the respondents. The findings revealed that the quality, brand and country of origin are the influencing factors on Consumer Ethnocentrism and this research also confirms that the people in Mullaitivu district have a positive attitude towards foreign made products and the attraction towards these products is high. Compared with Nespray consumers, consumers of Anchor have exposed constructive attitude towards the Anchor’s brand perception, reliability, brand recognition and brand image. Therefore, they have less Consumer Ethnocentrism towards the consumption of Milk powder