Villy Abraham: corresponding author
Ohad Shaked Kerstin Bremser
Marcos Medeiros
Abstract
Purpose
The study's main objective is to explore whether vicarious animosity and altruism account for consumers’ willingness to buy products made in the country perceived as the victim of military aggression on the one hand and reluctance to buy products made by the country perceived as the aggressor on the other hand.
Design/methodology/approach
Data was collected via an online survey using self-reported questionnaires between March 15th and June 15th, 2022, from a convenience sample of American and German consumers (282 and 199, respectively).
Findings
Altruism is more strongly correlated with reluctance to buy Russian-made products than willingness to buy products made in Ukraine. Furthermore, altruism was observed to mediate the relationship between subjective normative influence and willingness to buy Russian products. Moreover, animosity beliefs were observed to mediate the relationship between subjective normative influence and vicarious animosity. Finally, vicarious animosity mediates the relationship between animosity beliefs and willingness to buy Russian products.
Originality/value
Previous consumer behavior research has largely unexplored how intergroup conflict may impact the attitudes and responses of uninvolved parties (i.e., vicarious animosity). By focusing on altruism, a dimension of realistic group conflict theory largely overlooked in previous research, our study extends the consumer animosity literature to demonstrate the relevance of altruism in conceptualizing consumer animosity. Furthermore, we identify the differential role of altruism on consumer behavior in relation to each one of the parties involved in a conflict. Altruism is also identified as a mediator in the proposed Conceptual model.
Keywords: Vicarious animosity, altruism, susceptibility to normative influence, willingness to buy.