Consumer animosity in the global value chain: The effect of international production shifts on willingness to purchase hybrid products

The escalation of international offshoring and outsourcing in recent years has resulted in a proliferation of "hybrid products" for the typical multinational enterprise, with multiple country affiliations for branding, design, manufacture, assembly and parts sourcing. However, little has been written regarding the impact of consumer animosity on such hybrid activities, or the role of universal values in a hybrid production animosity model. In this paper we extend the consumer animosity literature to a firm's global integration activities for hybrid products. We posit that consumers' willingness to purchase (WTP) a complex hybrid product is negatively affected by partial production shifts to an animosity-evoking country, and that self-reported animosity toward the country predicts lower WTP above and beyond consumer ethnocentrism and perceived product quality. In addition, we hypothesize a negative relationship between conservation values and WTP hybrid foreign products, and a positive relationship between openness values and WTP hybrid foreign products. A study of 319 US consumers revealed consistent support for these hypotheses, with the exception of the conservation values - WTP relationship. Practical implications and future research directions are discussed. Journal of International Business Studies (2010), 41, 639-651. doi:10.1057/jibs.2009.29