The effect of consumer racism, ethnic-based consumer ethnocentrism and ethnic-based consumer animosity on Malaysian Malays' product judgment and willingness to buy Malaysian Chinese products

This thesis investigated the effects of consumer racism, ethnic-based consumer ethnocentrism and ethnic-based consumer animosity of ethnic Malaysian Malay consumers’ product judgment and willingness to buy Malaysian ethnic Chinese products. This thesis used a collection of familiar consumer products and brands to elicit generalized consumer response. Respondents were obtained through two
approaches; social media platform and the traditional pencil-and-paper approach. The combined total usable respondents were 425. The hypothesized relationships between the constructs were analyzed through the partial least squares structural
equation modeling approach (PLS-SEM). The results showed the constructs were distinct. There were three unsupported hypotheses with significant t-values, suggesting rather interesting findings. Consumer racism was found to have positive
relationship on product judgment but not relationship with willingness to buy. The results also suggested that ethnic-based consumer ethnocentrism have negative impact on product judgment and but have positive relationship with willingness to buy, while ethnic-based consumer animosity have positive relationship with willingness to buy only. Future studies can use specific brands or products or product categories associated with a particular ethnic group. This thesis utilized a modified consumer racism scale suited to the Malaysian marketplace as according to
the country’s historical aspects and operationalized both consumer ethnocentrism
and animosity at subnational level or ethnic-based. The modified scale can be adjusted and be utilized in countries with similar historical background and/or multiethnic societies for future research.