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countries are now using a common currency, the Euro, areflection of an effort to act as a unique group. However, each country releases its own
Euro bills and coins with a ‘personalized’ side. For instance, in the Netherlands, a coinmay bear a picture of Queen Beatrix, while in France it would show Marianne, the symbolof the Republic. While the use of the Euro manifests the desire of the people to embrace
one common currency, the majority of the people in the EU seem to hold on to theircultural heritage (Muller-Peters & Pepermans, 1998).
The objective of the current study is to understand the level of ethnocentrism in France,a country full of paradoxes. While it was a founding member of the EU and has alwaysbeen supportive, France has shown much nationalism. French people have the reputationof being extremely proud of their country, because of its history, philosophy, art,architecture, reputation in wine-making, and in fashion (Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars,1993). Actually, it is the honest opinion of many French men and women thatFrance has always led the world in cultural matters, such as architecture, painting, music,cinema, literature, sculpture, mime, theater, and ballet, for example. The French care aboutwhat matters in life—being French. They are convinced of their corporate, moral, andindividual superiority over all others in the world (Yapp & Syrett, 1996). Frenchconsumers have an appetite for foreign products and have welcomed new ideas fromabroad. France has traditionally exported many products and services abroad ranging fromwine to perfume, from atomic reactors to sophisticated movies. But in turn, the nation hasalso welcomed goods from other countries, ranging from cars to textiles, from electronicgoods to professional services (Johansson, 1994; ‘Poll: Europe favors US products,’326 R.G. Javalgi et al. / International Business Review 14 (2005) 325–3441991). Thus, France provides a useful backdrop upon which to explore consumer
ethnocentrism in the EU.
2. Consumer ethnocentrism
‘Buy French products’ is an example of the ethnocentric buying behavior of the Frenchconsumer. Ethnocentrism was first studied in the 1970 s by sociologists, such as Lewis(1976) and Lynn (1976). These theorists believed that as a social being, a person givespreferential treatment to members of the groups to which they belong. Subsequently,marketing researchers have drawn from these theories to study what they classified as‘consumer ethnocentrism.’ Ethnocentric people believe that their own group is the centerof their world and will use their own culture as a comparator. The concept ofethnocentrism extends to the field of marketing when one considers factors that influenceand forge consumer behavior. Consumer ethnocentrism is a construct that was developedby researchers on country of origin images and can be defined as ‘the beliefs held by
[American] consumers about the appropriateness, indeed morality, of purchasing foreignmadeproducts’ (Shimp & Sharma, 1987, p. 287).
Research on ethnocentrism has been extensive and concentrated in several areas.CETSCALE (Consumer Ethnocentric Tendencies Scale) was developed to measurethis construct (Netemeyer & Durvasula, 1991; Shimp & Sharma, 1987). This scaleconsists of 17 items. Consumers scoring high on this scale will tend to prefer domesticproducts over foreign ones. Several researchers tested the reliability and validity ofCETSCALE across cultures. CETSCALE was administe