Effect of consumer animosity on boycott campaigns in a cross-cultural context: Does consumer affinity matter?

Global companies have often suffered from unexpected boycott campaigns in foreign markets owing to consumer animosity toward a country of origin. This study aims to empirically investigate how consumer animosity (toward economic sanctions) and affinity predict consumer boycotts. We conduct a country comparison, employing the PROCESS macro to test the moderated mediation hypothesis, using data from 571 and 500 consumers in South Korea and Japan, respectively. The results find a negative indirect effect of animosity on purchase amount via boycott attitude and intention in both countries. The direct impact of animosity on purchase amount (in the case of South Korea) and the moderated mediation effect of consumer affinity (in the case of Japan) are partially supported. Therefore, the offsetting influence of consumer affinity in mitigating the effects of consumer animosity in the context of boycott campaigns is highlighted, offering novel managerial implications.