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A first objective is to add insight into how constructs of ethnocentrism, xenocentrism and cosmopolitanism relate to each other. Knowledge of how these constructs overlap or work together in affecting consumer preferences will offer global marketers insights for designing appropriate marketing strategies. The second objective is to extend this knowledge by examining the correspondence of these three constructs to a nomological network of dispositional concepts pertinent for product positioning and market segmentation. The third objective is to empirically examine the extent to which the measures, construct structure and associative relationships are robust in different national research settings. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Surveying British and American consumers, this study examines and analyzes the correspondence of these identity-relevant constructs within a nomological net of pertinent concepts: consciousness-of-kind, global consumption orientation, materialism and natural environment concern.

The hypothesized negative links between CET-XEN and CET-COS, and the predicted positive connection between XEN-COS were all confirmed on the latent factor results for the combined data set. The negative correlation between CET-XEN was of a considerably lower magnitude than that for CET-COS.

To date, no research has used an identity theory framework and simultaneously examined in a cross-cultural context the interrelationships of consumer ethnocentrism consumer xenocentrism and cosmopolitanism – and their differentiating linkages to a multiplicity of consumer dispositions.

The literature on consumer morality and consumption is spread widely across many research streams and would benefit from grouping under selected themes so that scholars’ work can be guided by the compass of these themes. It is also important to add studies to each of these themes to serve as gateways that will guide new research. The aim of this special issue of the Journal of Consumer Marketing was to achieve precisely this purpose. The purpose of this paper is to open the gate to the exploration of the themes that today describe this landscape.

The paper assesses the contributions made in each of several domains to better understand, why and how moral consumption works, what its ingredients are and how it may grow in the future. There are at least four domains of morality and moral consumption studies as follows: the formation of the moral self and moral identity; moral identity and ethical consumption; moral reasoning (cognitive processes) and moral choice; and the moral self and marketing. Each of these domains of work provides insight into the moral consumption phenomenon.

The authors highlight the development of the moral self and underscore the significance of the relationship between identity development and the individual’s moral actions and by extension the significance of that relationship in moral consumption. Also, the paper adds to the current discussion on morality and ethical consumption by underscoring their interlinked nature and how that linkage can drive consumption behavior, highlight the cognitive processes involved in moral choices and how consumers reason to arrive at those choices. Finally, the authors provide examples of the workings of moral identity and reasoning in consumption contexts more directly.

Each of these morality and moral consumption domains of work provides unique insights into the moral consumption phenomenon; thus, it is important to disseminate the contributions made in each domain to better understand, why and how moral consumption works, what its ingredients are and how it may grow in the future. In this paper, the authors offer contemporary original samples of key contributions to each of these domains.

This paper aims to develop a model that explains the moral bases of consumer ethnocentrism and consumer cosmopolitanism as purchase dispositions. The authors build their work on moral foundations theory and the social theories of Emile Durkheim.

Theory-building from general theories of motivation is grounded in cultural norms, and empirical research is conducted to test theoretical propositions.

The focus is on the theoretical implications of binding or individualism morals of consumers within social groups. Consequently, variables in the model relate to ethical themes of community, autonomy and divinity. This theory posits that, for a variety of considerations, loyalty has a direct and positive effect on consumer ethnocentrism and on consumer cosmopolitanism. Serendipitously, other moral foundations have negative effects. The authors theorize that negative relationships exist between authority and consumer cosmopolitanism, and between sanctity and consumer ethnocentrism. This model also illustrates that consumer ethnocentrism positively predisposes favorable domestic product judgments.

New ethical factors in consumer dispositions affecting product purchase decisions are explored. Hypotheses can be empirically replicated and moderated in future research.

Marketers can use the variables of personal values, moral foundations and gender role identity to fashion marketing communications and to target selective consumer segments.

The persuasion process of social marketing will be enhanced by understanding relevant motives.

The use of the fine-grained moral foundation antecedents to predict consumer predispositions of ethnocentrism and cosmopolitanism is without precedent.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which personal values, moral foundations and gender-role identities affect, in sequence, consumers' constructions of their ethnocentric and cosmopolitan orientations. Achieving a better understanding of the psychological makeup of consumer ethnocentrism and cosmopolitanism should help managers better design international market segmentation and brand positioning strategies.

The study's conceptual framework is anchored in attitude and values theories, and focuses on the social categorizations that consumers make and how these contribute to the formation of their ethnocentric and cosmopolitan orientations. Drawing data from consumers living in five European countries, we test our theoretical conjectures through structural equation modeling approaches, including multigroup analysis at the country level, as well as the identification and scrutiny of potential pan-European consumer segments.

Findings show that personal values, moral foundations and gender-role identities do exert direct and indirect (partially mediated) effects on the formation of consumers' ethnocentric and cosmopolitan orientations. These provide numerous insights for managers in terms of how they can segment domestic and international markets, as well as how to position products and communicate brand strategies.

The study focused on consumers' personal and role identities and offers implications based on data gathered from a sample of five European countries. Future work should broaden this perspective by including other identity facets, such as religious and ethnic identities, as well as product-category and brand-specific outcomes, in order to help develop a more comprehensive picture of the psychology underpinning consumers' identity-related orientations, and their effects on consumer behavior. Future research should also study these issues in a broader geographical context, by including national markets that have culturally diverse populations as well as places with dissimilar cultural and economic profiles.

The study shows that individuals' personal values, moral foundations and gender roles have a strong effect on the formation of consumer ethnocentrism and consumer cosmopolitanism orientations. Consideration of how these antecedent constructs operate in concert to shape consumers' in- versus out-group orientations has been overlooked in the international marketing literature. Beyond the ramifications for theory, the study offers numerous substantive managerial implications in terms of how consumers are likely to respond to local and global/foreign products/brands based on these orientations.

In consultant–client relationships, relationship longevity can create significant cost advantages and operational efficiencies for both client and consultant. At the same time, each party may also be motivated to look for new perspectives and opportunities by switching to new relationships. However, the benefits of replacing one consulting relationship with another are mitigated by switching costs: the costs associated with the act of changing the relationship itself.

This chapter explores the concept of switching costs by examining various types of costs, the ways these costs have been conceptualized in the literature, and how these costs may impact the nature and continuity of consultant–client relationships. The chapter will end with a series of hypotheses and suggestions for a research agenda to further develop our understanding of this important phenomenon.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a methodology by which qualitative analyses serve as rich source materials for discovery of theoretically cogent interrelations between latent variables.

In an illustrative case, qualitative data are collected from US franchisee managers from a single branded franchise of automotive repair outlets. Qualitative analysis of franchisee experiences and attitudes is critical for construction of a causal model used to predict conflict intensity between franchisee managers and franchisors.

The model is based on franchisees' normative expectations for resource allocation within the franchise; and their perceptions of franchisor normative violations, which are determinative of grievances, distrust, and hostility. This theoretical orientation serves to generate a system of interrelated empirically testable propositions.

In principle, the primary limitation of using qualitative analysis for the construction of causal models is the fruitfulness of the theoretical orientation shared by the qualitative analyst and the causal modeler.

The methodological approach advanced in this paper advances qualitative research and causal modeling beyond the individual contributions. Qualitative analysis infuses variables and process imagery into causal modeling. In turn, causal modeling elaborates the qualitative analysis and makes explicit logical connections between variables.

This paper advances a methodology by which qualitative analysis and causal model construction may be usefully integrated. Theory‐based qualitative analysis may be formalized to map latent concepts and their interrelations. Further, operational measures of these concepts may be adduced from the analysis of textual data.

This paper examines the value of mobile phones in ethnographic research, and seeks to demonstrate how this particular technology can support and enhance participant observation.

Reflecting in detail on one researcher's experience of incorporating this technological device into an ethnographic study, the paper considers how new observational tools can contribute to research beyond data generation.

The study suggests that the mobile phone can be an extension of the ethnographer and act as a powerful prosthetic, allowing the researcher to translate ethnographic principles into practice.

This paper reflects on the uses of a mobile phone in an ethnographic study of young men's consumer experiences. Thus, the discussion focuses on a research site where the mobile phone holds a ubiquitous position. However, there are now more than four billion mobile phones in circulation worldwide, so whilst acknowledging important differences in research sites, this research can be seen to have wide implications beyond the study of young consumers.

The paper argues that mobile phones allow researchers to record their observations, co‐create data and share experiences with their participants in ways that enhance the quality of ethnographic interpretations and understanding.

Little research attention has been paid to how emerging technologies support the more traditional participant observer, or how researchers actually embed them within their fieldwork. This paper addresses this gap and considers the wide‐ranging role that technology can have throughout this research process.

This study aims to analyse the appropriateness of the information content and organization of multinational companies' (MNCs) web sites for Turkish local cultural values with the aim of supporting global brand management decisions.

In order to gather data for the study, 108 MNCs' web sites are analysed by content analysis which is an objective, systematic and quantitative way of conducting information about communication content.

It is seen from the analyses that foreign multinationals could adapt their web sites' information content to local markets appropriately and sufficiently. However, the face (language) and the way (menu) that these data are presented were not adapted as compared to information content on their web sites.

This study has mainly considered the company side of web sites and neglects the consumer side. Future researchers interested in this area could also investigate how consumers perceive adaptation activities of foreign multinationals through web sites in their countries.

One of the major decisions MNCs face in using web sites regards how to organize and present the web site content to fit local needs and values. Although adaptation becomes a major concern, there is no standard for the multicultural content of web sites. There are several cross‐cultural studies in the literature which compare countries by correlating the analysed variables with Hofstede's scores. Rather than comparing home and host countries of foreign multinationals based on certain dimensions, it is found to be more appropriate to assess on what terms and to what degree these companies could adapt or standardize their global communication channels, namely their web sites, in Turkey.