The Effects of Consumer Cosmopolitanism and Consumer Ethnocentrism on Cross-border E-commerce in China

Purpose This study examines how consumer cosmopolitanism and ethnocentrism is related to Chinese cross-border e-commerce(CBEC) consumers’ purchase intention and channel choice. Particularly, we focused on CBEC channel choice (foreign or local) and investigated its relationship with consumer cosmopolitanism and ethnocentrism. Design/Methodology/Approach The data were collected from Chinese CBEC consumers. To test our hypotheses, we developed a questionnaire based on previous literature and the questionnaire survey was conducted. Based on the empirical data from 231 Chinese CBEC consumers, we analyzed the data with structural equation model. Findings Our results found that consumer cosmopolitanism is more positively related with foreign CBEC than local CBEC regarding purchase intention, while consumer ethnocentrism is not significantly related with CBEC regarding purchase intention. Research Implications This study examines a new and emerging phenomenon of Chinese cross-border e-commerce, and the results implies that managers involved in cross-border e-commerce in the Chinese market can make better use of the cosmopolitanism and ethnocentrism variable in marketing.