Consumer animosity: a literature review and a reconsideration of its measurement
Abstract
Purpose
Consumer animosity has gained considerable attention in international marketing literature as a determinant of foreign product purchase behaviour. The purpose of this paper is two‐fold: first, a state‐of‐the‐art review of consumer animosity research is presented and specific issues for future research on consumer animosity are raised. Second, potential problems associated with the measurement of consumer animosity are highlighted and an alternative perspective for operationalizing the construct is proposed.
Design/methodology/approach
First, a critical literature review on empirical consumer animosity studies is undertaken. Second, exploratory empirical results are presented, based on unprompted questioning, to identify both targets of animosity by Austrian consumers and underlying reasons for such animosity. Third, a MIMIC model overcoming the shortcomings of the current operationalizations of the consumer animosity construct is proposed.
Findings
The exploratory study on Austrian consumers demonstrates that animosity targets of consumers cannot be considered as being given, i.e. consumers differ in their animosity targets, and there may be a number of (different) reasons causing animosity feelings such as economic, political, religious or personal.
Originality/value
This paper reveals a set of problematic issues in current consumer animosity research and offers concrete approaches to overcome the latter. In particular, a formative measurement approach consistent with the conceptual definition of the construct is suggested and described.
Keywords
Citation
Riefler, P. and Diamantopoulos, A. (2007), "Consumer animosity: a literature review and a reconsideration of its measurement", International Marketing Review, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 87-119. https://doi.org/10.1108/02651330710727204
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited