Strengthening the Attachment to Local Brands through Consumer Ethnocentrism and Impactful Entrepreneurship Education

Abstract

This study investigates whether consumer ethnocentrism, a concept that refers to the tendency of consumers to favor domestic products over foreign ones, and entrepreneurship education are variables that can be used to strengthen attachment to local brands. Brand attachment is a well-researched concept in marketing literature. Many variables have been found to have different impacts on brand attachment across the globe. However, studies linking consumer ethnocentrism and entrepreneurship education to brand attachment are scarce, and this study contributes in that regard. Furthermore, the study examines whether entrepreneurship education mediates the association between consumer ethnocentrism and brand attachment. The study adopted a quantitative research methodology. Primary data were gathered through a survey. Past and current entrepreneurship education candidates were targeted. Factor analysis, simple linear regression, and hierarchical regression analyses using PROCESS were performed to make sense of the data. The study’s findings reveal that consumer ethnocentrism and entrepreneurship education can be used to strengthen attachment to local brands. The study recommends that marketing practitioners, scholars, and policymakers collaborate to design an impactful entrepreneurship education curriculum with the goal of enhancing consumer ethnocentrism, leading to increased interaction between consumers and local brands.