An Assessment of the Consumer Ethnocentric Scale (CETSCALE) in an Advanced and Transitional Country: The Case of Canada and Russia

Improving our understanding of the proclivities, preferences and attitudes of consumers for foreign products is a precursor to a successful foray into international markets. The need for a measure that is cross-culturally valid and reliable underpins such a goal. This paper addresses such an issue by evaluating the properties of the CETSCALE for measuring consumer ethnocentrism in an advanced country, Canada and a country in transition, Russia. Our findings are both consistent and inconsistent with prior studies. We found the CETSCALE to be a reliable measure in both Canada and Russia with Cronbach alphas of 0.933 and 0.925 for Canada and Russia respectively. However our findings pertaining to the scale's uni-dimensionality was inconclusive. While the scale was uni-dimensional in Canada, it was multi-dimensional in Russia. Marketing and research implications are discussed. Introduction Since the demise of communism in Russia, a new optimism has become apparent even to the cursory viewer of Russia's economic landscape. The ensuing market reforms under President Putin have led to what can be described as an economic renaissance in Russia. Perhaps, the renaissance is exemplified by the revival of St Petersburg for its 300th year celebrations (The St Petersburg Times, Tuesday, May 27 2003). The reforms have led to numerous bilateral relations between Russia and western advanced countries including Canada. Several multinational companies have also availed themselves of the opportunities and entered into joint ventures with Russian partners (Wall Street Journal, November 1 1990; Wall Street Journal, April 26 1996: B7) and also to promote their brands (Corner, 1989; Durvasula et. al., 1997). Associated with the developments evolving from the reforms in Russia has been an increased tempo of governmental and commercial relations between Russia and Canada. It is essential to understand the behaviour of Russian and Canadian consumers toward foreign products. Successful conduct of business will be dependent on how well marketers understand the attitudes of consumers to foreign and home made products (Durvasula et. al., 1997). The need for a measure that can be used to assess Russian consumers' receptiveness of foreign products will be of immense help to Canadian businesses and vice versa. Essentially, the way Russian consumers feel about Canadian products as well as the way Canadian consumers feel about Russian products will go a long way to building more satisfied consumers and ultimately more profitable businesses. However, this cannot be achieved until consumers' receptiveness to products can be measured with an instrument that is cross-culturally valid and reliable. Scholars have called for cross-cultural validation of measures (Ayeb, 2001; Netemeyer et al 1991; Shimp and Sharma, 1987; Shimp, 1984) because the appropriateness and rigour of measures as well as their validation may affect the conclusions that are drawn (Scandura and Williams, 2000; Sackett and Larson, 1990). According to Cook, and Campbell (1976) when measures are unreliable, they threaten internal validity. This is especially the case where scale is used in cross-cultural settings because of the likelihood of great variation of psychometric properties across cultures (Parameswaran and Yaprak, 1987). Given such concerns, an assessment of the CETSCALE is needed especially if it is to be used in the international arena. Researchers have been advised to use the scale in countries in transition such as Russia (Netemeyer et al., 1991; Duravasula et al., 1997). The aim of this paper is to compare the psychometric properties of the CETSCALE in Canada and Russia and to ascertain the scale's cross-cultural reliability and validity. Given the differences in western (e.g. Canadian) and non-western (e.g. Russian) cultures (Hofstede, 1980) and the fact that scale properties vary across cultures (Shimp and Sharma, 1987), this study is warranted. …