The continued spread of globalization has resulted in levels of global product availability that is not only unprecedented, but would have been regarded as impossible not too long ago. Products of almost every conceivable national origin (both industrial and fresh agricultural products) are now widely available throughout the world. Because the “country of origin” (COO) label of a product is a factor that in many cases influences the buying behavior of consumers, government policy makers and businesses know that they need to investigate consumer attitudes toward both domestic and imported products and the findings of these investigations need to be used to formulate more effective national “buy local” campaigns and marketing strategies. This issue has never been important in Oman than it is now when the country has embarked on strategies to diversify the economy. The success of the diversification strategies by the Oman government would, among other things, depend on the success of the promotion of “locally produced” products. Therefore , investigating and understanding consumer attitudes toward both domestic and imported products becomes important. This study intends to do just that by investigating consumer ethnocentrism of Omanis.
KeywordsConsumer EthnocentrismCETSCALEMarketingLocally Produced Products
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