Document Type : .

Author

• mostafa heidari haratemeh

Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and Management, Naragh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Naragh, Iran

Abstract

Extended abstract
Introduction: Today, although more foreign products are available to an increasing number of global consumers and more countries seek to increase exports and strengthen their image, but it seems that tensions among countries caused by disputes over territories, economic pressures, sanctions and religious conflicts have worsened the relations among nations in such a way that, if these disputes are perceived as offensive or unfair, they can cause enmity and increased nationalism, and finally adversely affecting the market. Consumers' anger toward a country that they perceive as an enemy may affect their perception of that country's products and image, and thus negatively impacting the export performance of that product. Consumer nationalism is also part of the attitude that consumers have towards products produced in a foreign country. In other words, customers who have strong ethnic beliefs are more likely to evaluate foreign products negatively than those who do not have such beliefs. As a result, for patriotic reasons, they refrain from buying foreign products even if the quality of the foreign product is superior to their own. Therefore, consumer nationalism has a positive effect on product evaluation (acceptance and belief), but negative effect with consumer hostility. Therefore, the research objective is to investigate the effects of economic hostility and nationalism on international trade. The hypothesis of the research is that economic enmity and nationalism have adverse influence on international trade.
Methodology: The current research is a survey type in terms of its practical and descriptive purpose and based on the elements and structures in the literature of the subject, a conceptual framework including a set of propositions is considered. From a structural standpoint, the conceptual model is divided into five categories of construct: 1) Economic hostility, which is caused by the feeling of economic dominance or aggression of the people of a country towards an enemy country which is related to temporary economic events; 2) Consumer nationalism, operationalized in a broader sense that combines consumer nationalism with an eye toward protecting trade, restricting foreign investment, restricting immigration, and restricting foreign companies and intellectual property; 3) The general image of the country, which is defined as a general structure that includes general images created not only by exemplary products, but also by the degree of economic and political maturity, historical events and relationships, culture and traditions, and the degree of virtue and industrialization of technology. It is characterized by a cognitive dimension (related to the level of economic, industrial and technological development) and an emotional dimension (related to emotional characteristics and beliefs towards people); 4) Product-related beliefs, which refer to the judgment and evaluation of specific consumers toward another country's products. 5) Product acceptance, which is defined as a conscious or unconscious readiness to accept external supply systems. The tool used for data collection was a questionnaire and a set of template ideas adapted from previous research.  In this regard, a sample of 341 people from a population of 3000 students graduated in the field of economics and commerce was selected by a simple random randomly method and questionnaires were distributed, responses were tabulated, and the data were analyzed using the structural equation technique. Since this sample includes economics and business students, it was assumed that these students have an acceptable knowledge and understanding of financial crises and business economic issues.
Results and Discussion: The findings of the research showed that economic hostility towards a foreign country does not have a negative effect on the understanding of the overall image of the country and the beliefs related to the product, but only on the acceptance of the product. Furthermore, economic hostility towards a foreign country has a positive effect on consumer nationalism. On the other hand, nationalism has a negative relationship with belief in the product, but it has no relationship with a negative perception of the country's image. However, higher level of nationalism has a negative effect on product acceptance. A higher level of hostility towards a foreign country does not affect the level of perception of the overall image of the country and the quality of the products made in that country. However, there is a strong and negative relationship between consumer hostility and product acceptance. As a result, consumers with a higher level of economic hostility usually do not welcome more imports from countries that are considered enemies, show a lower level of affinity toward it, and spread little positive words about that country. Finally, economic hostility towards a foreign country can also increase nationalistic feelings and increase the preference for domestic products/services as an expression of their "patriotism".
Conclusion: The results of this research are important for economically stronger and weaker countries. It seems that these findings leave no room for doubting that the political and economic actions of a foreign country can affect the feelings of enmity or nationalism of consumers and their images of each other, and in this way affect the purchasing choice of consumers. As a result, companies in countries that are angered by consumers will definitely face many challenges when exporting their products to those countries. In this situation, at least four options can be considered to reduce the potential negative effects of economic hostility on the level of trade in foreign countries where there is consumer hostility. First, during a crisis period, companies can temporarily remove the "made in" label from their advertising campaigns and focus on brand personality effects that are not clearly related to the image of the country of origin or, conversely, bring to mind the image of the same foreign country. Second, companies can use public relations and other communication measures to reduce the perception of "collaboration" with hostile policies and actions and evaluate the opportunity to separate themselves from the policies and actions of their government. Third, cause-related marketing can be used to support non-profit organizations, local communities, and awareness campaigns in affected countries. Fourth, firms can consider investing in foreign countries to develop joint brand strategies with national firms or establish alliances with them to produce hybrid products emphasizing the skills and competencies of local suppliers. Therefore, in order to participate and gain a reasonable share in international trade, policymakers must have a clearer understanding of the possible negative consequences of political and economic actions that are considered offensive or unfair.

Keywords

• Keyword : "
• Economic Animosity "
• Consumer Nationalism"
• International Trade"
• "
• Sobel Test "