Understanding the outcomes of consumer ethnocentrism and country of origin’s image on e-purchase behavior after Covid-19: an empirical investigation

There has been an upsurge in e-commerce businesses during the past decade which exceeded unexpectedly during Covid-19. Using the social identity perspective and the country of origin (COO) effect, this research has focused on understanding how consumers'’ perceptions and assessments lead to consequent purchase choices. The proposed model has examined the impact of consumer e-purchase behavior to facilitate practitioners in developing robust strategies after understanding the behavioral patterns of consumers, particularly after the Covid period. For testing the hypothesized model, quantitative research methods were integrated and data were collected from consumers from developing countries including India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Data were collected via Google Forms from 470 respondents who had extensive experience with online shopping and structural equation modeling was computed for generating results. The results indicated a negative impact of consumer ethnocentrism on e-buying attitude towards foreign products implying that a lower ethnocentric level leads to a positive attitude towards foreign products. Moreover, the country of origin's image was found to be positively associated with perceptions toward foreign products. Further, e-buying attitude towards foreign products was positively associated with willingness to pay and willingness to accept perceptions. The research provides a novel perspective to understand the individual characteristics of consumers while evaluating the impact of the product's label specifically when there are unusual circumstances. The findings are likely to add value to digital marketing and consumer behavior domains by illustrating the essential selection criteria for consumers during online shopping which is one of the growing fields within global businesses, particularly after the Covid period.