Demographic and Lifestyle Profiles of Ethnocentric and Non-Ethnocentric Urban Malaysian Consumers

The globalization of markets presents considerable challenges and opportunities for domestic and international marketers. This has led to a renewed interest in the effects of consumer ethnocentrism on buying behaviour. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the ethnocentric tendency among urban consumers in Malaysia. Specifically, the paper endeavours to identify the psychographic and demographic characteristics of ethnocentric and non-ethnocentric consumers. This study employs a survey approach. In terms of data collection technique, the study utilizes self-administered questionnaires. The study finds that five out of six demographic characteristics are significant to differentiate between the two ethnocentric groups. In terms of lifestyle dimensions, six out of eight dimensions are found to be significant. In general, the research results show that ethnocentric consumers tend to be Malay, married, female, have a low income and are mostly blue collar. They tend to be family and home concerned as well as price conscious.