Consumer Ethnocentrism and Tendencies To Protect Wisconsin-Made Cheese Products

Consumer loyalty is built on culturally rooted perceptions that a particular brand or product is better than any other brand or product. There is limited research on cultural and regional taste preferences that affect consumer purchasing intentions for local cheese versus cheese made elsewhere. Despite the abundant literature on country of origin and ethnocentrism as a cue in consumer decision making attributes, there is a need to address distinctions of consumer ethnocentrism toward locally sourced agricultural food products. Using an adapted CETSCALE, our research was conducted in the State of Wisconsin USA and explored socioeconomic influences toward buying and protecting locally produced cheese products from cheese products produced in foreign countries or elsewhere in the USA. Wisconsin consumer responses to the WI CHEESE CETSCALE were significantly related to lower purchases of cheese from foreign countries, but not significantly different from purchases of cheese made elsewhere in the USA