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Effects of the Change of Sovereignty on Consumer Ethnocentrism and Product Preferences in Hong Kong
Julie Yu
Gerald Albaum
SUMMARY. The sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China in mid-1997. The study reported in this paper examines changes in consumer ethnocentrism and product-source preferences after this event. Ethnocentrism did not change, but product-source preference did change.
[Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678. E-mail address: [email protected] < Website: http://www.haworthpressinc.com>] KEYWORDS. Consumer ethnocentrism, product preferences, Hong Kong, change of sovereignty
Introduction
The date July 1, 1997 marked the occurrence of an event that the world had been awaiting for about 13 years. On this date the United Kingdom transferred sovereignty over Hong Kong to China in a peaceful manner. During the countdown to the handover, journalists and public opinion pollsters recorded changes in confidence levels throughout Hong Kong. There is no doubt that economic and political confidence are closely linked. This is forcefully put forth in the classic novel The Ugly American when one of the local persons, Deong, says the following: "John, powdered milk and cattle are part of politics, and therefore part of history" (Lederer & Burdick, 1963, p. 21).
Although many expected the event to be an anti-climax (Ignatius, 1997), it seems that the Hong Kong populace were in general very optimistic about the future, and expressed a sense of psychological relief that foreign rule was coming to an end. Although not shared equally by all except for the feeling about foreign rule ending, this belief continues today for the majority of the people. One individual polled by Asian Commercial Research Ltd. (1997) said, "Now I will feel like a real Chinese!" This sentiment may be due not only to the lifting of a psychological weight of foreign administration, but also to a sense of identity with Hong Kong and its own value system. The reunification with China may also create a feeling of belonging to one people. Confidence in Hong Kong's economic future is very strong, even though the residents are less optimistic about their political freedom over the next twelve months.
In short, there may be a strong ethnocentric feeling among the Hong Kong people. In general, ethnocentrism means that people tend to view their own group as the center of the universe, to interpret other social units from the perspective of their own group, and to reject persons who are culturally dissimilar while blindly accepting those who are culturally like themselves (Booth, 1979; Worchel & Cooper, 1979). According to Levine and Campbell (1972), the symbols and values of one's own ethnic or national group become objects of pride and attachment, whereas symbols of other groups may become objects of dislike.
Although originally a sociological concept which then became a psychosocial construct with relevance to individual-level personality systems as well as to the more general cultural- and social-analytic frameworks (Levine & Campbell, 1972), ethnocentrism has been expanded to consumer behavior. Consumer ethnocentrism represents beliefs held by consumers about the appropriateness (including morality) of buying foreign-made products. Ethnocentric-oriented consumers believe that purchasing imported products is wrong because it hurts the domestic economy, causes loss of jobs, and is unpatriotic; products from other countries are objects of contempt to highly ethnocentric consumers (Shimp & Sharma, 1987, p. 280).
Objective and Hypotheses
The objective of the research reported in this article is to investigate the changes and impacts on consumer ethnocentrism and product preference of Hong Kong people brought about by the change of sovereignty. A survey on attitudes and purchase preferences was undertaken, with measurements taken both before and after the handover. Changes at the aggregate level are examined.
The present study also explores the possibility that ethnocentrism may be more than a cultural or ethnic construct. There may be a political dimension and, as such, there is a link between ethnocentrism and nation. In...
