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Local brands in emerging markets suffer from fierce competition and chronic disadvantages. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if outbreaks of animosity against the West (AAW) might benefit local brands by raising consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to buy (WTB).

The study employed 2 methods: structural equation modeling (n=244 Chinese students); and experiment, multiple regression (n=676 Chinese students, different sample than those included in study 1).

AAW is different from ethnocentrism and the measurement has good validity and reliability. After an outbreak of animosity, AAW increases Chinese consumers’ WTB local products. The WTP is also enhanced by AAW in such a situation. Under “normal” circumstances, there is no effect of AAW on the WTP. This might be due to the cost of substituting western goods for local ones (e.g. inferior perceived quality and other-signaling value). An outbreak of animosity presents a risk to consumers and thus lowers their overall WTP.

The study introduces the construct “AAW,” which stretches the animosity construct to an inter-regional level. On such a level, it is possible to find consequences of animosity on local brand consumption, which have not been the focus of previous studies. Additionally, this research introduces the concept of WTP to animosity research. The measurement is built on a real economic exchange and better represents the cost aspects of substituting one brand for another.

Media images of unrealistic beauty have been identified as a determinant of women's body dissatisfaction. This experimental study aims to explore whether the negative impact of such images could be reduced by a one‐time educational intervention consisting of a presentation and discussion, teaching women to be critical of media images.

Female psychology students (n=176) from a university in the UK were randomly assigned to the control or intervention group and completed measures of body dissatisfaction after being challenged by images of the perfect female body. Follow up data were collected four weeks later.

The results suggested that the intervention had no immediate buffering effect on body dissatisfaction but participants in the intervention group showed a long‐term improvement for confidence, attractiveness and body‐parts dissatisfaction.

This one‐time intervention could be used to protect young women against the detrimental impact of media images in the longer term.

This study provides an evidence base for the use of an educational intervention for young people in schools and colleges.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on consumers’ reactions to cross-border acquisitions (CBA) by exploring the role of consumer perceptions of the psychic distance between the country of the acquirer and that of the target firm when the acquiring corporation has a good or poor reputation.

A 2×2 experimental design which manipulated psychic distance and acquirer’s corporate reputation was conducted in Italy. The study considers an Italian food target firm and compares four foreign acquiring firms with different combinations of corporate reputation (good/poor) and psychic distance to Italy (small/large).

The authors found that the degree of psychic distance between the countries of the acquiring and targeted firms was inversely related to Italian consumers’ intentions to repurchase the products of the post-acquisition target, and unrelated to the acquirer’s corporate reputation.

This is the first study focusing on psychic distance in the context of CBA, especially from the perspective of consumer behavior, which can help to better understand certain negative reactions toward the acquisition of a business.

This study examines the impact of situational and stable animosities on quality evaluation and purchase intention while also testing the moderating effects of within- and cross-country cultural distance. It focuses on the case of the US THAAD missile defense system deployment in South Korea (hereafter, Korea) and investigates how the resulting Chinese consumers' animosity affects their quality evaluation of, and purchase intention toward, Korean cosmetics.

This study utilizes a quantitative approach based on a survey and structural equation modeling. The sample comprises 376 Chinese consumers from 19 Chinese regions.

The results indicate that both stable and situational animosities are negatively associated with purchase intention toward Korean cosmetics. However, their effects on quality evaluation are different. While stable animosity is negatively related to product quality evaluation, situational animosity has no such negative association. Finally, the cultural distance between Chinese regions and Korea strengthens the negative relationship between stable and situational animosities and purchase intention.

The study contributes by better unraveling the effects of stable and situational animosities on perceived product quality. The empirical context is unique because it allows the authors to investigate the relationship between Chinese antagonism toward the THAAD deployment in Korea and Chinese consumers' stable and situational animosities in terms of their quality evaluation of, and purchase intention toward, imported Korean cosmetics. Hence, this study contributes to the literature on consumer animosity by empirically testing the moderating effect of within- and cross-country cultural distance on the relationship between stable and situational animosities and purchase intention.

The study has relevant practical implications, notably for Korean exporters' marketing management and within- and cross-cultural management. The results suggest that countermeasures are needed because Chinese consumers' stable and situational animosities are negatively related to their purchase intention toward Korean cosmetics. Moreover, the findings provide the insight that when foreign firms export culture-sensitive products to a large, multicultural country, their managers should pay attention to within- and cross-cultural differences simultaneously.

Previous studies have shown that the effects of animosity on product evaluation and purchase intention differ depending on the animosity dimension, product type, country and the situation causing animosity, among others. However, the existing literature on animosity has neglected the reality that within-cultural differences in a single large emerging market are relevant to explaining the concept of animosity and its effect on the purchase intention toward culture-sensitive products. Furthermore, none of the animosity studies have touched on the important moderating role of within- and cross-cultural differences between a large and multicultural importing country and a brand's home country in this manner. Therefore, the study fills this gap by empirically examining whether different moderating effects of stable and situational animosities exist for a specific conflict situation caused by a military issue and investigates the causes of these different effects.

The chapter aims at representing the results of a case study with concern to the economic and environmental crisis triggered by Ilva in Taranto.

The case study design follows an ethnographic approach. The analysis is based on the collection of some qualitative interviews and documentation related to the environmental conflict engendered by the Ilva of Taranto, which has been the largest steel mill in Europe since the 1990s.

The analysis of the empirical data shows some interesting insights about (a) the growing contradictions in time of crisis in the relationship between the ‘the four pillars’ of sustainability (economy, social justice and society, environment, culture); (b) the importance of the social pillar in playing a key role in the management of local conflicts and in stimulating change within social and economic organizations; (c) the difficulty to promote sustainable policies through a multilevel governance approach able to synthesize the complexity of the scenarios emerging at the local, regional, national and European levels, in order to create an alternative way of development.

The ethnographic approach is useful to analyse in depth the core of the environmental conflict and the divergent developmental scenarios expressed by the different categories of actors.

Politics in human societies represents a variation, and elaboration, on a major evolutionary theme. Political processes have played an important functional role in goal-oriented, cooperative social systems in the natural world. This view of politics is also consistent with a causal theory – known as the Synergism Hypothesis – which explains the rise of complexity in evolution over time and, equally important, the frequent examples of devolution and dissolution. In addition to a brief discussion of this theory, the evolution of political systems in humankind will be described, from its possible origins among our remote australopithecine ancestors to the emergence of complex modern civilizations. Now, however, we confront an existential threat to our species, and to many others, due mainly to climate change. The future is very problematic. I will argue here that the only viable path going forward is a new social contract coupled with (democratic) global governance – a global “superorganism.”

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether, in the context of a cross-border acquisition, the acquirer’s country image (CI) could moderate the relationship between the acquirer’s corporate reputation (CR) and consumers’ repurchase intentions towards the products of the post-acquisition target.

The authors examined the roles played by the acquirer’s CR and the acquirer’s CI on consumer behaviour by considering an Italian target firm with a high reputation and comparing four foreign acquiring firms with different combinations of CR (poor/good) and CI (high/low).

It was found that both CR and CI have a significant impact on Italian consumers’ intention to repurchase the products of the post-acquisition target. Furthermore, the results show a greater increase in consumers’ repurchase intentions when a good reputation of the acquirer is paired with a high CI for the acquirer, but a high CI cannot compensate for a poor CR.

The research investigates, in the context of cross-border acquisitions (CBAs), the impact of the acquirer’s CR and the acquirer’s CI on the host country consumers’ repurchase intentions after the CBA, which has not previously been thoroughly examined. It can help managers to understand the conditions under which CBAs will be favourably evaluated.