Perception of Product Innovation as a Mediator on the Relationship between Consumer Animosity and Intention to Buy Foreign Products: Iranian Consumers and American Products
Asghar Moshabaki Esfahani*, Mahmoud Mirzaei Hesari*, Asadollah Kordnaeij* and Adel Azar*
Faculty of Management and Economics, Tarbiat Modares University*

Abstract: Consumer animosity has gained considerable attention in marketing literature during last decades. This paper aims to model the impact of consumer animosity on intention to buy foreign products in the context of prolonged hostility between USA and Iran and investigates the mediating role of consumer perception of product innovativeness in the relationship between consumer animosity and intention to buy US products using analysis of structural equation modelling (SEM). In this research, we studied 383 Iranian consumers (from the capital, Tehran and two metropolises, Mashhad and Rasht) and their intention to buy US products (digital instruments). Our findings revealed that "Consumer Perception of Innovativeness" mediates the relationship between "Consumer Animosity" and "intention to buy US Products". In addition, we found that individuals with higher education levels have less animosity. The research recommends that global marketing managers, who operate in highly hostile markets, must not neglect the impact of consumer perception of product Innovativeness. Indeed, because innovativeness is a high-end product, the consumer perception of Innovativeness (CPI), even when consumer holds animosity toward US products, leads to the demand of a product.

Keywords: Consumer Perception of Product Innovativeness, Consumer Animosity, International Marketing, Intention to buy Foreign Products.