Consumer preferences for country of origin of foreign fruit: does consumer animosity matter?

Figures & data

Table 1. Attributes of foreign apples.

No	Attributes	Attributes’ level
1	COO	China
		France
		The US
		New Zealand*
2	Traceability	Yes
		No*
3	Organic label	Yes
		No*
4	Size of apple	Big size (5–7 apples/kg)
		Medium and small size (10–15 apples/kg)*
5	Price per kilogram	VND 39,000 per kg (∼USD 1.66)
		VND 59,000 per kg (∼USD 2.51)
		VND 79,000 per kg (∼USD 3.36)
		VND 99,000 per kg (∼USD 4.21)
		VND 119,000 per kg (∼USD 5.06)

* Denotes reference level; USD1.00 ∼ VND23,500.

Figure 1. An example of a choice set.

Table 2. Description of the participants.

Variables	Values	Percentage (%)
Gender	Female	63.89
	Male	36.11
Year of birth	1970–1980	15.00
	1981–1989	24.44
	1990–1996	26.67
	1997–2004	33.89
Education	Graduate	23.33
	Undergraduate	43.33
	Intermediate	17.78
	High school	15.56
Occupation	Full time	47.78
	Part time	14.44
	Housewife	10.56
	Unemployed	27.22
Marriage	Single	35.59
	Married	64.41
Household size	1	3.33
	2	24.44
	3	36.67
	4	23.89
	> =5	11.67
Household income	<VND 10 million/month (∼USD 426)	12.23
	VND 10 – 20 million/month (∼USD 426–USD 851)	46.11
	VND 21 – 30 million/month (∼USD 851–USD 1,277)	29.44
	>VND 30 million/month (∼USD 1,277)	12.22

Table 3. Consumer animosity toward China, the US, France and New Zealand.

	Mean	Difference
		vs. New Zealand	vs. France	vs. The US	vs. China
I hate China	3.96	2.01***	1.80***	1.67***	–
I hate the US	2.28	0.34***	0.13***	–	–
I hate France	2.16	0.21***	–	–	–
I hate New Zealand	1.94	–	–	–	–

^*** , **, * denote statistically significant level at 1, 5 and 10% respectively.

Table 4. Consumer animosity by age, education, and gender.

		Consumer animosity toward…
		China		The US		France		New Zealand
		Mean	Diff	Mean	Diff	Mean	Diff	Mean	Diff
YOB	1970–1980	3.3	−1.6***	1.8	−0.9***	1.6	−0.8***	1.3	−0.8***
	1981–1989	3.3	−1.6***	1.8	−0.9***	1.8	−0.6***	1.4	−0.7***
	1990–1996	3.8	−1.1***	2.5	−0.2***	2.4	0.0	2.4	0.3***
	1997–2004^#	4.9		2.7		2.4		2.1
Education	Post-graduate	3.3	−1.3***	1.9	−0.7***	1.9	−0.6***	1.3	−0.9***
	Graduate	3.8	−0.8***	2.1	−0.5***	2.1	−0.3***	2.0	−0.2***
	Intermediate	4.6	0.0	3.0	0.4***	2.7	0.3***	2.3	0.1**
	High school^#	4.6		2.6		2.4		2.2
Gender	Female	3.8	−0.4***	2.4	0.3***	2.2	0.2***	2.1	0.4***
	Male^#	4.2		2.1		2.0		1.7

^*** , **, * denote statistically significant level at 1, 5 and 10%, respectively.

^# Denote reference level.

Table 5. Estimation models.

Independent variables	Model 1		Model 2
	Coef	St. Err	Coef	St. Err
Mean
COO^a
China	−5.819***	1.967	−2.734***	0.797
The US	−0.041	0.260	−0.339	0.260
France	−1.195**	0.440	−1.002***	0.335
China * I hate China			0.005	0.137
The US * I hate China			0.126**	0.066
France * I hate China			0.142**	0.061
Traceability with QR code	3.673***	1.220	1.724***	0.464
Organic label	2.823***	0.956	1.266***	0.322
Big-sized apples	1.210***	0.421	0.309**	0.131
Price	−0.112*	0.055	−0.239***	0.073
Standard deviation
COO
China	3.259***	1.163
The US	1.047***	0.378
France	1.005***	0.344
Traceability with QR code	2.064***	0.707	1.318***	0.371
Organic label	1.021***	0.364	0.238*	0.130
Big-sized apples	0.481***	0.188	0.018	0.075
Price	1.315***	0.443	0.393***	0.104
Scale heterogeneity
/Tau	3.631***	0.428	3.032***	0.364
Goodness of fit measures
Number of respondents	180		180
Number of observations	5,760		5,760
Log likelihood	−1,820		−1,834
AIC	3,670		3,696
BIC	3,770		3,796

^*** , **, * denote statistically significant level at 1, 5 and 10%, respectively.

^a New Zealand is the reference level.

Table 6. Positive preferences and marginal willingness to pay for attributes.

Attributes	Proportion of respondents with positive preference (%)	Marginal WTP
		VND (Unit: 1,000)	USD
COO^a
China	3.7	−51.781	−2.20***
The US	48.4	−0.363	−0.02
France	11.7	−10.637	−0.45**
Traceability with QR code	96.2	32.681	1.39***
Organic label	99.7	25.117	1.07***
Big-sized apples	99.4	10.767	0.46***
Price	46.6	–	–

Source: Computation from Model 1.

^*** , **, * denote statistically significant level at 1, 5 and 10%, respectively.

^a New Zealand is the reference level.

Table A1. Literature review on COO and animosity.

Study	Product	Data/methods	Independent variable	Dependent variables/Outcome
Thøgersen (2023)	N/A	Review 189 peer-reviewed papers	COO	Strong evidence that COO has a substantial impact on food choices. Consumers generally prefer domestic to imported and local to other domestic origins because of ethnocentrism; cue for food safety and quality; patriotism; support and protect domestics economy Lower preference for domestic is generally found in developing countries. Origin effect also appears to differ between food products, but without a clear pattern. Consumers perceive certain origins as superior to others for product quality. COO importance differs among consumers in different countries COO becomes less significant when other extrinsic qualities are labeled (e.g. organic, carbon footprint, environmentally friendly, quality assurance labels)
Kassas et al. (2023)	Fresh tomato	Florida (US) to Mexico Choice experiment 348 responses/ T-test Ordered Logit regression for choice Latent class analysis	Domestic COO label (+) Male Age Education Income Household size Food spending	Despite demonstrating a preference for COO and a tendency to look at COO when shopping, a notable proportion of customers overlooked COO; Difference in preferences between customers who observed the COO and those who overlooked it.
Kabir et al. (2023)	Vegetables (tomatoes and brinjal)	Bangladesh to the world 220 Consumers Choice experiment CVM method	Traceability (+) Income (+) Quality perception (+)	Preference
Kim et al. (2022)		Between South Korea and Japan 571 Korean 500 Japanese	Animosity (−) Affinity (+)	Boycott campaigns/Purchase intention Affinity mitigates the effects of animosity in the context of boycott campaign
Hoang, Ho, Tran, and Le (2022)	General No specific brands or product types	Vietnam to US and China Convenience sampling 485 Consumers SEM	Animosity (A) Ethnocentrism (E) Cosmopolitanism (C) Moderator: COO Mediator/Dependent variable Product Judgement (PJ) Willingness to buy (WTB)	A (−) → PJ E (n.s) → PJ C (+) → PJ A (−) →WTB E (-) →WTB C (n.s) → WTB PJ (+) → WTB
Fong et al. (2022)	Famous brands (Nike, Zara,)	China to North America and EU Study 1 514 + 525 Responses Study 2: 520 Responses SEM	Animosity Western product superiority Normative influence	Purchase avoidance/Boycott
Yin et al. (2020)	White shrimp	China to the world 996 CONSUMERS Choice experiment GMNL model	EU organic (+) China organic Treatment group: + Control group: (n.s) Traceability (+) Price	Preferences
Wang et al. (2018)	Fresh fruit (citrus; grapefruit; pomelo)	France to China 533 observations Order logit model Latent class model	COO (−) Brand (+) Perceived risk Perceived quality Intrinsic attributes (freshness; flavor;) Extrinsic attributes (price; package; brand; COO)	Preferences to China fruit Fresh fruit in China is perceived as low quality and unsafe
Hinkes and Schulze-Ehlers (2018)	Fish (Frozen Pangasius; Tilapia fillets)	Germany to Bangladesh and Vietnam Choice experiment 325 responses/ Mixed logit model	Domestic COO (+) Fish species +); Sustainability certification (+); Fairtrade certification (+); Price (−); Brand (n.s) Opt-out (−)	Attitude; preferences German consumers are price-sensitive and prefer fish produced in Germany over fish farmed in either Bangladesh or Vietnam Older respondents as well as those concerned about sustainability sustainability and the COO are relevant factors influencing purchase decisions
Narang (2016)	Apparels, Torch Battery Mobile phones	India to China Stratified sampling 287 responses CFA	Animosity (−) Ethnocentrism (n.s) Social status (n.s) Self-esteem (+)	Purchase intention of foreign product Ethnocentrism (n.s) animosity
Cheah et al. (2016)	General	China to Japan 435 Responses (50% students and 50% their parents)	Animosity (−) Ethnocentrism (n.s) Product judgement	A (n.s) product judgement E (n.s) product judgement WTP foreign and hybrid product Animosity overshadow Ethnocentrism
Balcombe et al. (2016)	Fresh meat Produced meat (bacon; pizza; ready meals)	UK to EU and outside EU Discrete choice experiment Online: 2951 responses Bayesian mixed logit Model estimated in WTP space	COO (domestics or local (+) Food quality (+) Organic production System (+) Farm assurance (+)	Preference COO less important than food attribute; Domestic bias against identical products from other countries.
He and Wang (2015)	Shampoo Athletic shoes Cell phones Bottled water	China to the world 912 Responses	Cultural identity (+) Ethnocentrism (n.s) Cultural identity (n.s) Ethnocentrism (−) Moderator Brand equity	Preference/Purchase domestics Preference for foreign
Peng Cui et al. (2014)	Fresh milk	Between China and US Experiment Online survey Convenience Chinese native 144 CN living in US 96 American native 153 American living in CN 114		Attitude; perceived quality; perceived risk COO effects were stronger when consumers: + Felt greater animosity toward the foreign country, + Were more ethnocentric + And were less acculturated
Denver and Jensen (2014)	Apples	Local Danish to Danish, other EU countries, outside EU 637 Consumers Choice experiment PCA Random parameter error Component model	Organic (+) Local (+)	Preference for locally domestic apples

(–) negative impact; (+) positive impact; n.s: not supported.

A: animosity; E: ethnocentrism; C: country of origin; WTB: willingness to buy.

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Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Dang, V.H., upon reasonable request.