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The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrative model where perceived competence, perceived warmth and “clean green image” of an exporting country are drivers for Chinese consumers' trust in food quality and food safety, which in turn predict their willingness to buy fresh fruit from this country.

Participants (N = 1,583) from the three metropolises in China were surveyed on their perceptions of the competence, warmth and clean green image of seven contrasting exporting countries and their trust in quality, trust in safety and willingness to buy fresh fruit imported from those countries.

Results support the proposed integrative model, explaining 39%–55% of the variance in willingness to buy. Clean green image was the strongest predictor of willingness to buy through enhanced trust in food quality. The effects of country competence and warmth on willingness to buy through trust in food safety and quality varied with exporting country.

The integrative model and findings of this study can help agri-food industries develop an in-depth understanding of Chinese consumers and to develop targeted strategies to increase willingness to buy through improving consumer trust in food quality and safety.

This study extends the country image framework which previously only consisted of human characteristics (i.e. perceived competence and warmth) by incorporating environmental characteristics (i.e. clean green image) in examining consumers' willingness to buy imported fresh fruit.

While the idea that consumer ethnocentrism influences the willingness to buy domestic products is a well-known assumption for marketers, the purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of consumer ethnocentrism on the willingness to buy domestic products in developing countries.

Hierarchical moderator regression analysis and simple slope analysis are used to test the postulated hypotheses, and 385 consumers in Taiwan are studied.

The findings revealed that consumer ethnocentrism, perceived quality, perceived price and perceived brand image are significantly associated with the willingness to buy domestic products. Moreover, consumer ethnocentrism significantly moderates the relationships of the model.

Consumer ethnocentrism increases the positive effects of perceived quality and perceived brand image on the willingness to buy domestic products in developing countries, whereas it may increase the negative effect of perceived price on the willingness to buy domestic products.

The results of this study suggest that practitioners should not only improve the quality and brand image of domestic products but also avoid putting a high price on domestic products to increase the willingness to buy domestic products for consumers in developing countries.

This study advances the consumer ethnocentrism theory by adding the moderating effect of consumer ethnocentrism to the model.

This study aims to clarify the relationship between two plausible conflicting attitudes in cross-cultural context-consumer affinity and consumer ethnocentrism (CET) and to explore their interactive effect on product trust and willingness-to-buy.

A total of 392 usable responses were obtained. Previously validated scales of consumer affinity, CET, product trust and willingness-to-buy were used and showed good reliability. Hierarchical multiple regression and the bootstrapping method were conducted to test the hypotheses.

This study revealed that consumer affinity is positively associated with product trust, which in turn promotes consumers’ intention to buy products from the affinity country; CET moderates the relationship between consumer affinity and product trust; and CET also moderates the mediating effect of product trust on the relationship between consumer affinity and willingness-to-buy.

First, this study helps to explain how consumer affinity boosts willingness-to-buy, and it reveals the type of consumers whose product trust is most notably influenced by their level of ethnocentrism. Second, this study examines the moderating effects of CET on the relationship between consumer affinity and product trust, which can help to identify the situations in which consumer affinity influences product trust most strongly. Third, this study examined the interactive effect of consumer affinity and CET on product trust and its subsequent effect on willingness-to-buy. The findings help to explain the CET’s critical role in the effect of consumer affinity by relating it to the literature of product trust and willingness-to-buy.

Given the crucial role that consumer affinity plays in improving consumers’ trust in and buying intention for a country’s products, governments, multinational enterprises and international marketers should strategically construct, maintain and magnify a positive national image to the world. This study’s results also clarify that consumer affinity does not conflict with CET; not only can they coexist but also they are positively related. The crucial implication is that CET is not always a barrier to purchasing foreign products.

Although research interest in consumer attitudinal conflict issues is increasing, the real relationship and interactive effects of plausible conflicting attitudes between consumer affinity and CET remain to be understood. This study bridges a gap between CET and willingness-to-buy by considering the boundary conditions of consumer attitudes toward a specific country (inherent in consumer affinity). Furthermore, this study is, to the best of the author’s knowledge, the first to link consumer affinity with willingness-to-buy through the mediating effect of product trust. These findings are helpful for understanding how consumer affinity positively effects willingness-to-buy.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated model of Taiwanese consumers' willingness to buy from China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Using 284 completed questionnaires, LISREL and multi‐group analysis were employed to examine the relationships among country image, product beliefs, affect, familiarity, world‐mindedness, and willingness to buy.

The empirical research results showed that country image has no direct influence on Taiwanese consumers' willingness to buy, but it has indirect influence on Taiwanese consumers' willingness to buy via product beliefs. However, affect has both direct and indirect influence on Taiwanese consumers' willingness to buy, and affect is observed to have stronger influence on product belief than on Taiwanese consumers' willingness to buy.

Taiwanese enterprises having ongoing mass production in China are recommended to prominently feature their original Taiwanese brand names and technology cooperation with developed countries to build up positive country image.

By introducing the concept of world‐mindedness, this research generalized the conclusion drawn by earlier research in the context of Taiwan.

The main purpose of the study is to examine the moderating influence of motherhood on the linkage between feeling guilty and willingness to buy organic food.

The data were collected using a questionnaire from female consumers and analyzed with structural equation modeling.

The structural equation model results revealed that food safety concern and environmental concern influence feeling guilty about buying conventional food products. The empirical findings also supported the positive effect of feeling guilty on willingness to buy organic food. Additionally, for mother consumers, the impact of food safety concern and environmental concern on feeling guilty was greater than non-mother consumers. Similarly, moderator analyses revealed that the influence of feeling guilty on willingness to buy organic food is significantly higher for mothers.

Referring to the attitude-behavior-context (ABC) theory, the current research aimed at filling the knowledge void by examining how motherhood moderates the relationship between feeling guilty and willingness to buy organic food. Hence, understanding the moderation role of motherhood provides newer insights into consumer behavior and marketing literature. The results of the research can help both organic food producers and retailers to develop successful marketing strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of brand prominence on willingness to buy luxury brands. It also aims to investigate the direct and moderating roles of luxury brand values, social influence and vanity on willingness to buy luxury brands.

A convenience sampling method was employed. Survey questionnaires were distributed by mall intercept to quasi-random samples in downtown Perth, Western Australia for completion and return. The return yielded 779 usable questionnaires, the data from which were analysed using SPSS 22.

The findings support the influence of brand prominence on purchase intention for luxury brands. It has also been found that social influence has a significant influence on physical vanity and willingness to buy luxury brands. However, some relationships with and isolations from the earlier studies have been identified.

This study provides some meaningful insights for marketing managers regarding brands prominence that they can use in better understanding the consumers’ intention to buy luxury products. A luxury goods manufacturer may want to be cautious to not over popularize its trademark for short-term gains. There must be a delicate balance between the uses of prominent and subtle signals in luxury branding in order to maintain value as a prestigious label.

Previous studies have mainly focused on the antecedents of willingness to buy luxury brands, whereas this paper incorporates the construct of brand prominence, adding new insights into the construct.

This study aims to understand the influence of cartoon characters on the generation alpha (GA) in purchase decision-making, supported by the theory of planned behaviour.

Quantitative study was used to collect data from 294 Indian parents on behalf of their children (between 8 and 12 years) using convenience sampling and 20 items Likert scale questionnaire. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data and for hypothesis testing.

The study shows the favourable impact of cartoon characters to influence the behaviour of GA while making the final purchase decision. The likability was found to be significantly related to the recall, willingness to try/buy. The recall was significantly related to willingness to try/buy and purchase intention. Willingness to try/but was significantly related to purchase intention, but it has no significant relation with the final purchase decision, whereas purchase intention had significant relation with the final purchase decision.

The study indicates that generating likability for cartoon characters among GA is important. Managers should recognize that although parents make the final purchase decision, however, children play an influential role. Advertisers should plan their communication accordingly. An emotional connection with cartoons can influence GA, which further impacts recall, willingness to try/buy, purchase intention and decision.

Various studies have been conducted in western countries, but very few studies have been conducted in emerging markets like India, highlighting cartoon characters’ influence on GA’s purchase decision-making, with theoretical underpinnings. The study also explores the importance of GA, an emerging consumer market in today’s digitalized era, which is highly influenced by technological gadgets. It becomes challenging for marketers to promote their products on television to influence GA purchase behaviour.

The purpose of this meta-analytic study is to investigate the possible influence of food shape abnormality on consumer’s willingness to buy fruits and vegetables. This research also investigates some possible moderators (methodological, cultural, socio-economic and contextual) that could influence the direct effects.

This study applied the meta-analysis approach to understand the effect of food shape abnormality on willingness to buy fruits and vegetables. In this research, 16 empirical articles were examined, with a total of 54 effect sizes.

The results showed consistent negative effects between food shape abnormality and consumers’ willingness to buy fruits and vegetables. This study also found significant effects related to culture (Hofstede’s cultural dimensions) and to socio-economic (Human Development Index) moderators. The findings demonstrated that cultures with higher power distance levels promoted stronger effects in the relationship between abnormally shaped food and willingness to buy. Additionally, related to social–economy aspects of a nation, the negative effects between abnormally shaped food and willingness to buy are stronger in countries with low human development rates.

Public policymakers can benefit from the main findings by implementing interventions strategies and education campaigns based on different cultural dimensions. In cultures characterized by high levels of aversion to uncertainty, social communication campaigns can build trust and provide the consumer more knowledge about abnormally shaped fruits and vegetables, whereas in cultures characterized by low levels of masculinity, related to higher levels of sustainability, local producers can benefit from the “local food” positioning to sell abnormally shaped fruits and vegetables.

This research advances studies about consumer behaviour in relation to food waste, highlighting factors beyond aesthetic issues, such as a nation’s culture and its economic context. These results open the way for new work in this area.

Consumer animosity is often used to explain consumers' boycott of products from a foreign country in a dispute. However, these studies are mainly cross‐sectional. The purpose of this paper is to investigate temporal changes in two distinct consumer‐animosity dimensions – i.e. historical and contemporary – and their influences on judgment of and willingness‐to‐buy foreign products.

Sampling came from a mall‐intercept survey in Japan during the height of a recent Japan‐China dispute (n=139), followed by a similar survey six months later (n=157). Identical questionnaires tapped Japanese consumers' historical animosity (HA), contemporary animosity (CA) and ethnocentrism dispositions, and judgment of and willingness to buy Chinese products. The data were fitted using structural equation modelling.

The results indicate that both CA and HA lowered willingness to buy Chinese products during, but not after, the dispute. CA was consistently stronger than HA in influencing willingness to buy. By contrast, product judgment did not influence willingness to buy during the dispute. That is, animosity dispositions overshadowed objective product evaluation during the dispute. After the dispute, only product judgment directly influenced willingness to buy, and HA indirectly influenced willingness to buy via product judgment. CA weakened after the dispute, but HA remained stable over time. Product judgment was lower during the dispute. Consumer ethnocentrism interacted only with CA during but not after the dispute.

International dispute heightens the salience of present‐day issues such as unemployment rather than of historical conflicts. Although product judgment was affected, the downside to foreign firms is temporary. Domestic firms can only take short‐term advantage, but long‐term edge remains improving product judgment.

Despite extensive research into the influence of consumer animosity on consumer behaviour, surprisingly little research has attempted to investigate the temporal characteristics of the consumer animosity, let alone investigate its distinct dimensions. In this study, the authors attempt to show that unless one considers the potential temporal changes to individual consumer‐animosity dimensions, sweeping conclusions from single‐shot studies may yield an incomplete picture and even misguide managerial initiatives.

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors influencing customers' willingness to purchase new store brands.

The paper develops a 3×3 design to investigate the impact of price and quality positioning on the willingness to purchase new store brands in five product groups. A total of 990 respondents completed a questionnaire about store brand perception, aspects of purchasing behavior and willingness to buy. Data are analyzed with analysis of variance and partial least squares.

The paper finds that customers' willingness to buy new store brands differs between different product groups. It is lowest for product groups associated with high social risk. Accordingly, premium store brands are preferred for these categories. The influence of price is small and nonlinear. Furthermore, the attitude towards a specific store brand has a large impact on customers' willingness to purchase, while the attitude toward store brands in general is less important. The drivers influencing customers' attitude towards specific store brands depend on the respective product group.

The results indicate that price is not the only factor influencing customers' willingness to buy new store brands. Therefore, the results encourage retailers to position store brands also in premium segments, especially for product groups where social acceptance is important.

This paper differs from other papers in the literature in that it analyses factors influencing the success of new store brands. Furthermore, it analyzes many different potential influencing factors, namely product group, price and quality positioning, store brand perceptions, attitudes and aspects of purchasing behavior.