Rethinking consumer ethnocentrism

This dissertation examines consumer ethnocentrism in contemporary deglobalized markets and advances a dynamic, multi-level conceptualization of how ethnocentric tendencies manifest across structural, psychological, and contextual dimensions. While consumer ethnocentrism has traditionally been treated as a stable attitudinal construct, the present research reconceptualizes it as a contextually activated identity-based process. The dissertation integrates three complementary empirical studies employing mixed-method segmentation analysis (media discourse and cluster analyses), qualitative process research (shopping diaries and in-depth interviews), and netnographic analysis of digitally mediated discourse. The findings present consumer ethnocentrism as structurally heterogeneous, negotiated through identity-based equilibrium management in everyday decision-making, and conditionally escalatory in response to perceived threat and digital amplification. The dissertation offers a more dynamic and context-sensitive understanding of ethnocentric consumption in volatile market environments.