1. ¹Department of Marketing, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
2. ²Washington State University, Vancouver, USA
3. ³KDI School of Public Policy and Management, Korea
4. ⁴Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau, China

Correspondence: SM Leong, Department of Marketing, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, 1 Business Link, Singapore 117592, Republic of Singapore. Tel: +65 6516 3172; Fax: +65 6779 5941; E-mail: bizlsm@nus.edu.sg

Received 21 July 2005; Revised 1 September 2006; Accepted 20 June 2007; Published online 15 May 2008.

Abstract

The nature, antecedents, and consequences of consumer animosity during the 1997 Asian economic crisis are investigated, based on a large-scale survey of 2000 adult consumers representative of five affected nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand). An animosity model was developed and tested with the US and Japan as target countries. As predicted, stable and situational animosity reduced willingness to buy products from a perceived hostile national entity. Affective evaluations and cognitive judgments were negatively influenced by situational animosity but not by stable animosity. As expected, situational animosity was increased by external attribution, perceived external control, and stable animosity. Implications of these findings are discussed, and directions for future research suggested.