The purchase of foreign products: The role of firm?s country-of-origin reputation, consumer ethnocentrism, animosity and trust.

Consumer purchasing decisions relating to foreign products are influenced by economic, psychological and sociological factors. This multidisciplinary research attempts to relate such scarcely studied variables as ethnocentrism and animosity to concepts taken from the Relationship Marketing approach and Signalling Theory (trust and reputation, respectively). Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data collected from 202 personal interviews carried out in a Spanish city. The results show that a firm?s reputation and consumer trust are needed to establish business relationships involving consumers and firms from different countries, whereas animosity can reinforce consumer ethnocentrism, decrease intentions to buy foreign products and reduce trust in foreign companies.