The impact of demographic and socio-psychological characteristics on consumers’ ethnocentric tendencies: Evidence from Croatia

The objective of this study is to determine the impact of demographic and socio- psychological characteristics on consumers’ ethnocentric tendencies. The research was conducted within Croatia among the residents living in the Split-Dalmatia County. The data was collected from 420 respondents using a questionnaire based on the CETSCALE measurement. Hypotheses were tested in order to investigate differences in consumers’ ethnocentric tendencies with regards to two demographic characteristics (age and level of education) and two socio-psychological characteristics (foreign travel experience and in- terest to travel abroad). Both hypotheses related to age and education were supported. Moreover, the findings show that respondents with higher level of education have higher tendencies of consumer ethnocentrism than those with lower level of education. Findings also show that younger people have more pronounced tendencies of consumer ethnocentrism than older people, which is not in accordance with previous research. Both hypotheses of the socio-psychological characteristics were also supported. The research suggests that people traveling abroad and having a more expressed interest to travel abroad have a higher degree of consumer ethnocentrism than those who travel less and have a lower desire to travel abroad