Assessing the ethnocentric tendencies of different age‐cohorts in an emerging market

Purpose – The main purpose of this study was to investigate what leads consumers to ethnocentrism and the effects of their ethnocentrism on attitudes toward country of origin (CO), and subsequently on purchase intentions (PI). The other objective was to study the knowledge and product preferences of different age‐cohort's, about CO of high and low technology products. Design/methodology/approach – Results are derived from primary data collected from a consumer sample in India. Data analysis was done using SPSS and AMOS. Findings – The Indians, who are found to be ethnocentric, are also willing to purchase products from other countries. Indian consumers showed preferences for products from the USA and Japan over China and the UK. Additionally, from the result of age‐cohort analysis, age was found to have a significant effect on the attitude toward CO and product preference. Research limitations/implications – Consumers were asked to evaluate the attributes of foreign‐origin products without reference to a specific product group and this could be one of the limitations of the study. Practical implications – These findings provide useful insights to the marketer about the impact of CE on attitude towards CO and cohort's preference for CO of different products. Such information will help the marketer to devise suitable strategies. The paper contributes to research on CE by confirming some of the earlier results with a consumer sample from India. Originality/value – This paper both supports and contributes to the existing literature by studying CE and CO on a diverse range of product categories, using an age‐cohort analysis.