The Influence of Ethnicity on Consumers’ Purchase Patterns in the Context of Bosnia and Herzegovina

One of the most important subculture in contemporary international marketing perspective is ethnicity (Burton, 2009). In given consideration, Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) is an interesting research environment where three ethnic groups live together in a country that achieved its independence in less than two decades ago (Vida et al., 2008). The aim of this study is to determine the importance of ethnicity in consumers' perception of country image, product quality and its influence on willingness to buy products originating from different countries. The conducted study was based on a stratified sample of the B&H population using the questionnaire method. The propositions were tested by the multiple regression models with socioeconomic, demographic and ethnic characteristics functioning as independent variables and consumer ethnocentrism as a control variable. The measurement scales of country image, quality perception and willingness to buy were treated as dependent variables. The analysis showed high importance of ethnicity as a predicting variable in the specific research context of B&H. The main contribution of this study is related to understanding the importance of sub cultural variables in consumers' purchase patterns. Marketing implications of the study refer to the possibility of creating specific marketing approaches depending on country of origin and ethnicity of target consumer groups