6
K. Chinen et al.
… I am a Tariff Man. When people or countries come into raid the great wealth of our Nation,
I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so…MAKE AMERICA RICH AGAIN (Dec
4, 2018).
The COO image inaugurates US consumer’s beliefs and perceptions about
attributes of EVs, and in turn, these beliefs affect their attitudes and inferences
about product quality towards the CBEVs. Therefore, we formulated the following
hypotheses:
H2a: In evaluating the CBEVs made in China and advanced countries, the
high-ethnocentric US consumers are likely to perceive the product quality
made in foreign countries to be inferior to those who are low-ethnocentric
consumers.
H2b: The low-ethnocentric US consumers are willing to purchase the CBEVs
made in China and advanced countries than those who are high-ethnocentric
consumers.
1.3 Methodology
1.3.1 Respondents
The online and paper-and-pencil surveys were anonymous and self-administered. We
ensured confidentiality and promoted confidence in providing sensitive information
accurately. No personal information was sufficient to identify any participants. A
total of 188 business students from a major university in Sacramento, California,
completed surveys. Ten observations from the 188 respondents had to be removed
because of missing information. It is important to acknowledge that the survey sample
was not randomly selected. Research indicates that paper-and-pencil and Internet
data collection methods generally produce equivalent results (Weigold et al. 2013).
Moreover, anonymous online surveys have the advantage to yield significantly lower
social desirability scores than non-anonymous or face-to-face surveys (Dodou and
de Winter 2014). The topic of the survey was announced as a survey on “opinions of
consumers on electric vehicles” without explicitly referring to sustainability issues.
1.3.2 Key Variables
1.3.2.1 Purchase Intention and Product Quality
According to Wang et al. (2013), purchase intention toward CBEVs (PI) is defined
as “individual assessment of future willing to buy”. Our survey checks PI by the
following Likert scale question:
K. Chinen et al.
… I am a Tariff Man. When people or countries come into raid the great wealth of our Nation,
I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so…MAKE AMERICA RICH AGAIN (Dec
4, 2018).
The COO image inaugurates US consumer’s beliefs and perceptions about
attributes of EVs, and in turn, these beliefs affect their attitudes and inferences
about product quality towards the CBEVs. Therefore, we formulated the following
hypotheses:
H2a: In evaluating the CBEVs made in China and advanced countries, the
high-ethnocentric US consumers are likely to perceive the product quality
made in foreign countries to be inferior to those who are low-ethnocentric
consumers.
H2b: The low-ethnocentric US consumers are willing to purchase the CBEVs
made in China and advanced countries than those who are high-ethnocentric
consumers.
1.3 Methodology
1.3.1 Respondents
The online and paper-and-pencil surveys were anonymous and self-administered. We
ensured confidentiality and promoted confidence in providing sensitive information
accurately. No personal information was sufficient to identify any participants. A
total of 188 business students from a major university in Sacramento, California,
completed surveys. Ten observations from the 188 respondents had to be removed
because of missing information. It is important to acknowledge that the survey sample
was not randomly selected. Research indicates that paper-and-pencil and Internet
data collection methods generally produce equivalent results (Weigold et al. 2013).
Moreover, anonymous online surveys have the advantage to yield significantly lower
social desirability scores than non-anonymous or face-to-face surveys (Dodou and
de Winter 2014). The topic of the survey was announced as a survey on “opinions of
consumers on electric vehicles” without explicitly referring to sustainability issues.
1.3.2 Key Variables
1.3.2.1 Purchase Intention and Product Quality
According to Wang et al. (2013), purchase intention toward CBEVs (PI) is defined
as “individual assessment of future willing to buy”. Our survey checks PI by the
following Likert scale question: